


Fading Light

by kirby1196



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Prequel, noncannon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 105,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirby1196/pseuds/kirby1196
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans and Papyrus were just two normal teenagers trying to find their way in life. That was, until Sans decided to take them both to Mt. Ebott, where both fell into the world of monsters. With only each other to count on, the two traverse the realm in hopes of getting safely back to their world. If, that is, they can make it with their souls intact... (A prequel to Undertale.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Undertale story! It was first posted on my Deviantart page and then Fanfiction, so now it's going to be posted here as well. It's still a work in progress but I hope you enjoy the story!

Everyone knew about Mt. Ebott.

It was so large and encompassing that it was hard to miss, let alone not hear of the tales that came with such a mountain. Children were read to every night from the towns and cities nearby about monsters who dwelled underneath the mountain, waiting to eat any child that dared to take the trek up. 

It was said that whoever dared to challenge the mountain never returned, and while adults often associated such nonsense with the bedtime stories read to children, there was something that kept people away.

Maybe it was just how sad the mountain looked. It was dotted poorly with trees and other greens, but most of the surface was brown and devoid of plant life, as if the mountain itself was slowly withering away. Perhaps it was the distance, as the mountain sat away from any big cities, alone and uninhabited. Or perhaps they truly were scared, for not once was there a single header or article of someone coming back from the mountain.

Only those who wished to disappear from humanity made the voyage.

Except…

“Sans!” The words were screeched rather loudly, making the chubby teenager halt. He half smiled as he looked behind him, watching another, skinnier teenager falter behind him. The boy was tan for his usual complexion, wearing a yellow polo shirt with the collar popped, khaki shorts, white tube socks and tennis shoes. A pair of retro headphones hanged around his neck, while his bright yellow walkman was clipped to the outside of his pant pocket, the cassette inside a mixtape of various songs.

Surrounding the two teenagers was a dense part of the mountain, where trees were plenty and bushes spotted the healthy dirt. Light penetrated the small forest through every opening of leaves and trees, casting rays of light everywhere. Squirrels chattered amongst the branches while birds could be heard singing their songs.

“Yeah, Papyrus?” Sans responded. Unlike Papyrus behind him, who was sour, he on the other hand was more excited than anything. “Don’t tell me you’re getting tired.”

For an out-of-shape teenager, Sans didn’t seem to act it. He wore a large, brown t-shirt which he kept un-tucked from his long khaki pants. Black tennis shoes hid his feet while a large, military backpack rested on San’s shoulders, where two metal canteens proudly clacked against one another whenever he moved. 

“I’m not getting tired.” Papyrus mentioned, his eyebrows knitting. 

He opened his mouth to continue but Sans spoke first. “Good, then let’s keep going.”

Sans started to continue his walk, hearing Papyrus rushing to catch up. “Sans!”

“Yeah, bro?” Sans stopped and waited for his brother to come scampering his way, still keeping his usual smile. “You thirsty?”

“Will you let me talk?” Papyrus stopped beside his brother, showing just how taller he was to the small teenager. He frowned when Sans held out a canteen, brushing it to the side. “I don’t want water!”

“Food then?” Sans slipped one of the sleeves off of his shoulder, unzipping one of the pockets. “You need to let me know what you want. I can’t read your mind.”

“I don’t want food!” Papyrus screeched.

“What do you want then?” Sans asked, slipping the sleeve back on his shoulder. He already knew what Papyrus was going to say, he had been saying it since the moment they got there.

“I want to go home!” 

“Aw come on, Papyrus. Where’s the fun in that?” Sans retorted, moving his shoulders to get a better sitting position for the backpack. “You agreed you would accompany me to find the hole, remember?”

“I did not agree too that!” Papyrus threw back, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I remember someone promising me a lift to Mt. Ebott.” Sans replied. He was content with the discussion so he resumed his walk. 

Papyrus was somewhat shocked Sans walked off, jogging after his brother then walking beside him. “Because you said you would find another ride if I didn’t! And I’m not letting you go off and get stranded on some mountain!”

“Which I’m not.” Sans replied back, calm as the slight wind that blew by him. “I brought a compass and a map, so we’re not going to get lost unless we want to.”

“What’s so special about this hole anyways?” Papyrus grumbled, deciding that arguing with his brother on leaving was a dead end. “Do you seriously think you’re going to find something?”

“I might, I might not.” Sans shrugged, his smile getting just a tad bit bigger. “But just think about it, a whole other world right below our feet. There have been rumors for decades about an entrance to the monster world, and if there is one, I want to find it.”

“Peh, there’s no such thing as monsters.” Papyrus seemed confident that his words were true when he spoke. “That’s just your overactive imagination playing on mom’s stories from when we were younger.”

“But what if they are?” Sans turned to his brother, who looked skeptical. “Legends say they were banished to the underground long ago. I don’t know why, but if we could find the entrance just think of what we could learn.”

“Or we could kill ourselves.” Papyrus muttered, though his concern grew when Sans didn’t respond. “Don’t you get it Sans? There have been several stories of people never returning from this mountain! We could end up like the others who came here!”

“Relax, bro.” Sans held out a hand, giving his worried brother a knowing smile. “I just want to find the hole and then we can leave. Promise. No one will even know we went to the mountain except us.”

“Well, it better not be much longer.” Papyrus looked away, which meant to Sans that he was going to be ok. “You remember that we’re throwing our first house-party tonight, right? I want to get home in time to make sure everything is ready for when all the cool kids walk in the door.”

“Sure thing, bro.” Sans replied, closing his eyes for a moment to relax. When he opened them his usual smile vanished, eyes widening. “Papyrus, do you see that?”

“Hmm, what?” Papyrus asked, having imagined himself as one of the popular kids at their high school. He was quickly snapped from his thoughts though when Sans took off without him, leaving the poor teenager to chase. “Sans?!”

Both boys rushed deeper into the forest, Sans driven by the image he had seen not too far off. He gave himself time to stop when he reached the end of the forest, eyes racking the steep incline for what he had seen. 

When he spotted it again Sans mad-dashed farther up the mountain, leaving poor Papyrus to falter behind him. “Sans, what’s gotten into you?! I would outrun you but your movement is unpredictable!”

“Up here, Papyrus!” Sans called down, watching long enough to see his brother take the right path up before running again. He was panting at this point, sweat dripping down his face but he seemed to have forgotten about it for the moment. 

At last his feet stopped at the entrance to the small mouth of a cave. Papyrus had time to catch up as Sans was rummaging through his backpack, retrieving a flashlight and turning it on. He turned his head to his brother. “Let’s go.”

“In there?” Papyrus pointed to the absolute darkness, where a lone beam of light from San’s flashlight illuminated rock and insects. “You’re crazy!”

“Maybe.” Sans shrugged again and without hesitation entered the cave. Papyrus, not wanting to be left outside scurried after his brother, which made Sans regain his usual smile.

Together the two crept into the dark cave, with Sans leading the way as he could feel Papyrus’ weight from his hands on his backpack. “Don’t worry bro, I got you.”

But Papyrus didn’t respond, which Sans was okay with. He knew stuff like this scared him, which made him all the happier to have such a brave brother. 

At the end of the dark tunnel both boys saw light, making one another look to the other. Papyrus was the first one to speak. “How is there light in a cave?”

Sans smiled to Papyrus as they got closer to the light. “Only one way to find out.”

After a few more steps, both brothers found themselves exiting what was a cramped tunnel and into a large room. Vines and leaves scattered the floor and seemed to rise up into the darkness, where a ceiling was nonexistent. Little holes in the walls shed light into the room and in the center waited a gaping abyss. 

Sans could feel Papyrus’ grip on his backpack get tighter, but the only thing that grew on Sans was his grin. He eagerly turned to Papyrus. “Bro, I think we found it.”

“This?” Papyrus spoke up, pausing to hear his voice echo off into the room. He took his hand off of Sans backpack, taking a step to the side. “This is just a giant hole!”

“Or a gateway to the monster world.” Sans replied, his feet moving again. He took a few steps closer to the huge hole that seemed to wait eagerly for something to fall inside it.

Sans was stopped before he could get too close by a hand grabbing his wrist. “Sans.”

Sans turned around to see the dim features of Papyrus’ face. They were concerned. “We found your hole; now let’s get out of here. I don’t want you going near that.”

“Come on, bro.” Sans gave Papyrus a reassuring smile, but he wasn’t buying it. “I just wanted to make sure this was the right hole. I’ll keep a safe distance.”

When Papyrus didn’t let go Sans produced a sigh. He nodded his head. “Alright, I guess we can leave.”

Papyrus’ smile was so relived. “Finally you listen to some common sense.”

“That’s why I have you, right?” Sans joked, the two brothers sharing a light laugh.

Sans walked his way back over to Papyrus, who pointed to the tunnel exit. “Now come on, let’s say we go and get some fast food to celebrate this discovery and then head home to our amazing house-party!”

“Sure thing.” Sans agreed, though he didn’t take a step with his brother. “Except one more thing…”

“Sans.” Papyrus groaned, turning back to his brother with slight annoyance. He had pocketed his flashlight since there was enough light and instead pulled out their portable camera. 

Sans smiled. “I want to get a picture of you and the hole. To show that we actually found it.”

“Why me?” Papyrus whined. “Can’t we just leave?”

“Because I need to hold the camera, and it’s only right to have an amazing discovery also have my amazing bro in it.” Sans pleaded with his smile, holding the camera firmly in his hands.

Papyrus’ eyes grew warm to such a comment, then he puffed out his chest as if he were receiving an award. “Well, obviously.”

Sans closed his eyes, his smile growing. “Thanks, bro. I promise it’ll be quick.”

“Just make sure to get my good side.” Papyrus added in, taking cautious steps over thick vines and roots over to the hole. He made sure to keep a good distance from the dark void, holding a thumbs-up to the camera. “How’s this?”

“Perfect.” Sans adjusted the camera, his grin bigger than ever. “Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” Papyrus flashed a toothy smile, the camera giving off a flash of light. 

Papyrus leaned back from the sudden flash, hands instinctively reaching for his eyes to rub them when his foot hit a thick vine behind him. 

Sans dropped the camera when he saw his brother start to fall backwards and into the hole, rushing for him. “PAPYRUS!!”

He nearly tripped on a root before diving for his brother’s falling hand, clasping it in his own. Papyrus jerked to a stop, screaming from the chasm below his feet. “Sans, pull me up! Pull me up!!”

“I’m trying!!” Sans grunted, trying to use his elbows to leverage him into pulling Papyrus back onto the ground. But his muscles were aching from already holding his brother, and he slipped a little when attempting to hoist him up. 

“Sans!!” Papyrus yelled again, dangling for his life. His eyes were blinded by tears. “Please don’t drop me!!”

“I won’t!” Sans yelled back, but he himself didn’t know how he was going to get Papyrus back up. He wouldn’t let his brother know, though.

Sans tried his elbows again, a grave mistake. In trying to pull Papyrus up, one of his elbows slipped and with it Sans dived head first into the chasm. Both boys screamed as they dropped into the darkness and from the world above. Their screams echoed for a few seconds before getting softer, until the room was devoid of sound once more.

And a little aways from the hole, a picture slid out of the bottom of the camera, showing a happy Papyrus and a big, thumbs-up from Sans.


	2. Level 1

For 22 seconds, Sans thought he was dead.

It was only when he tried to move that searing pain erupted through his body, and with a groan he knew he was alive. He attempted to roll to his side but found himself stuck. No, not stuck, just weighed down by something heavy on his back.

Wearily his eyes cracked open to find the world just as dark as when his eyes were closed. “Papyrus…?”

His voice echoed far into the black. When his echo faded into the realm with not another sound Sans fully awoke. He struggled to move, wincing from the searing pain. “Papyrus??”

“I’m here…” Another, groaning voice called out, startling Sans. It was closer than he thought, but he couldn’t see his brother when he turned his head. 

“Are you ok?”

“No…” Papyrus weakly responded, his voice dragging out at the end of his sentences. “Everything hurts.”

Sans couldn’t help but give a light chuckle, but his ribcage hated him for it right after. “Heh… me too.”

“Don’t laugh about this!” 

“Sorry.”

Sans allowed himself to rest for a few minutes, his nerves still acting up but he was less concerned now that he knew that Papyrus was alright. Sort of. “How far did we fall?”

“I don’t know. Far.” Papyrus responded, though he was rather short with his answers now. “What happened to you not dropping me?”

“I didn’t drop you. I just fell with you.” Sans corrected, but the grumbles he got back from Papyrus weren’t satisfactory. 

“We could have died! We _should_ have died!”

Sans shrugged, but something stopped him from doing so. He wondered just what he was laying on when his memory sparked to life. His backpack! 

Removing the straps with aching limbs, Sans fought against his body and sat up. The first thing to hit him was his arms, which were screaming from him moving them so much. Then his legs, which felt shattered but thankfully not broken. He was surprised his spine wasn’t hurting as much as the rest of his body; guess he had his backpack to thank.

“Can you move, Papyrus?” Sans asked, feeling his way through the dark back to his backpack. When his fingers recognized the texture of the military sack he then looked for the zipper, opening one compartment.

“Sort of.” Papyrus groaned, then yelped after Sans believed he tried to get up. “I’m… I’m going to need a minute.”

“Take your time.” Sans pulled something out of his backpack, but when he realized it wasn’t what he wanted he put it back inside. The ground was cold underneath him, but didn’t feel like rock like Sans thought. He couldn’t tell what it was though for the moment.

With a firm grasp, Sans smile came back to him to have finally found his flashlight. A quick click and the room they were in lit up, dust flying in and out of the beam of light like insects. 

Shakily Sans then rose to his feet, sucking in a deep breath of air to all the pain screaming at him to lie down. “Alright bro, where are you?”

“Over here…” Sans pointed the flashlight to the ground, moving it around in hopes of finding Papyrus faster. What surprised him though was what they landed on; flowers. 

Sans felt his eyebrows lift up as he then angled his flashlight upwards. How could flowers be growing down here without light? 

“Sans, what are you doing?” Sans was snapped from his thinking to hear Papyrus speak. 

He angled his flashlight back down, taking baby steps. “Sorry, bro. Just got caught up in my thoughts.”

“You can do that later, when I’m not in searing pain!”

“Got it.” 

After a few waves of his flashlight, Sans quickly found Papyrus not too far from where he originally laid. The pain on his face was enough to make Sans limp over and get to his knees. “Aw man, Papyrus.”

“I’m surprised you’re standing.” Papyrus looked pained when he spoke; his body sprawled out as if his back had been the first thing to hit the ground. Even with the flowers to cushion their fall. “Quite frankly I feel like broken glass.”

“Well I had support.” Sans pushed himself to get back up, limping back over to his backpack and dragging it over to Papyrus. He set his flashlight down upwards to give a dim casting over their area as Sans dug through some more pockets. “I should have packed some first-aid.”

“Don’t bother.” Sans stopped moving when Papyrus laid a hand on his. He watched his taller brother grunt through his pain and sit up, letting out a weak yelp.

Sans held up his hands as if Papyrus would fall back over. “Don’t push yourself, bro. I got this.”

“You most certainly do not.” Papyrus looked to Sans, noticing how his smile had all but disappeared. 

Papyrus wasn’t used to seeing his brother not smiling, which made him in return have to give it back. It was a pained one, but a smile at that. “If you want to make this up to me, then pay for my hospital bills when we get out of here.”

Sans blinked. His confused expression only made Papyrus laugh, startling Sans back into the moment. He regained his usual grin, shaking his head and lowering his hands. “Jeez bro, you still have time to make jokes?”

“Oh it’s not a joke.” Papyrus still kept his smile after he was done laughing, watching Sans get back to his feet. He took the hand extended from Sans, slowly getting to his feet with a few weak squeaks.

When Papyrus was up and not intending to fall anytime soon, Sans moved his flashlight back up towards the ceiling. “I don’t think we can come out the way we came.”

“How are we going to get out of here then?” Papyrus turned his head to Sans, his mind slowly remembering that they had fallen to their supposed deaths. With this in mind, Papyrus’ smile vanished immediately. “Sans, we fell down!!”

“I think that’s already been established.” Sans remarked, giving his brother a quick glance before moving a little aways to angle his flashlight better. He seemed more interested in the never ending darkness above them.

“It doesn’t sound like it!” Papyrus’ rather loud voice boomed from the echoes. He swung his arms to the side, wincing from the terrible mistake. “We’re trapped in the mountain!! How long were we out? Who will come and rescue us? What about the party?!”

By this point Papyrus had his hands on his cheeks, quaking in his shoes. Sans, having not thought of the time dug through his backpack once more, pulling out an old pocket watch. “Hmm, we’ve been out for a few hours.”

“How long?” Papyrus snatched the watch from Sans’ loose fingers. If it were possible his eyebrows would have shot off of his head. “Two hours?! Sans!!”

“Relax, bro.” Sans extended his palm, which Papyrus roughly gave back the pocket watch only for him to pocket it away. He gave his brother a relaxed smile, to which he did not return. “I’m sure there’s another hole close by. We’ll just climb out and be home before midnight.”

“And how are we going to explain how long we’ve been gone?” Papyrus asked, remembering the walkman on his pants. He clipped it off and investigated the surface, a little miffed to find a small crack. “And what about our awesome party? All the cool kids will show up and we won’t be there!”

“Don’t sweat it, Papyrus.” Sans crouched down, struggling to pick up his backpack and place it on his back. He then staggered ahead of Papyrus, angling his flashlight beyond the flowers and what looked to be rock. “No use worrying about it here. When we get out you can just say we were fashionably late to our own party.”

“Can we do that?” Papyrus seemed to contemplate the idea, watching Sans limp off before joining him. 

Sans shrugged. “I don’t see why we can’t. It’ll make you look cooler.”

“Sans, that’s brilliant!” Papyrus seemed to delight himself in the idea. Sans smiled to hear the enthusiasm in his voice, just so that he wasn’t freaking out anymore. “In that case, let’s be an hour late to our party! That’ll make them love us when we strut in!”

“Sure thing, bro.” Sans stopped when his flashlight hit something that wasn’t rock. Both boys angled their heads up to see the columns before them, where a door way stood crumbling and in ruin. 

“Papyrus…” Sans voice seemed to gain some of the enthusiasm Papyrus had before.

He turned as quickly as he could to his brother, who painfully crossed his arms. “Sans, I already told you. There’s no such thing as monsters!”

“Then how do you want to explain this?” Sans eagerly looked ahead, shining his light inside. “What if we run into an actual monster?”

“I would rather not.” Papyrus said glumly, before quickly adding. “Not that we’ll find any! Because they don’t exist!”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Sans didn’t seem to be paying attention to Papyrus’ words, instead continuing without him. The notion of finding what he had been looking for was making his heart race, so much so that he didn’t hear his brother’s pleas to wait up.

Upon entering the room, Sans was surprised to find a small ray of light casting down from what appeared to be the outside world. It was dim, which reflected the time he had seen earlier that the sun was receding. However it was the small, golden flower in the middle of a patch of grass that he was occupied with.

Sans cautiously stepped forward, noting how much bigger the flower seemed than any he had been around. When he got close enough the flower appeared to grow features, such as small, black eyes and a pleasant smile. “Howdy!”

Sans recoiled and took a step back, but settled down when he realized that the flower spoke. He took a few steps closer, crouching down to get a better look at the flower. “You can talk?”

The flower giggled. “Of course I can talk! But you would know that if you were native to the Underground.”

“Is that were we are?” Sans asked, very intrigued with this flower. He set his backpack down for a second, pulling out a small, leather journal and a pencil. He flipped it to an empty page, scribbling a few things down. “Would you say that you’re a monster, flower?”

The flower beamed. “Yup! I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!”

“I’m Sans.” Sans introduced himself, now focused on making a small doodle on one of his pages. “A real monster, I knew you existed.” 

He looked up from his sketch. “You aren’t all flowers, are you?”

Flowey looked away. “Oh heavens no! There’s all different kinds of monsters that live down here! I’m sure you would love to meet them all, right?”

Sans nodded his head. Flowey gave him a smile, more eerie than the last. “Well then, how about I teach you the way to navigate through the Underground? That sure would be nice of me, right?”

Sans however didn’t seem to pick up on Flowey’s eerie smile, nodding his head. “You know, my brother was real scared of meeting a monster. I’m sure he would be pretty embarrassed right now.”

“Yes, scared…” Flowey seemed to bite his lower lip, looking away. “I actually have something to give you to help you in your travels. Could you scoot a little closer?”

“Sure thing.” Sans did as he was told, taking a few short steps forward. He would have taken more, had it not been for the stunning, paralyzing sensation that coursed through his body. His eyes grew wide, starring down at Flowey as it was the only thing he could do. His heart, it felt like it was being clenched.

Flowey’s features transformed from sweet to frightening, his cheery voice dropping a few octets. “Did you really think I would be your friend, human? In this world, it’s kill or be killed. And you have chosen poorly. Now DIE.”

Sans wanted to speak but felt no words come to his mind, the clenching feeling on his heart growing tighter. His mouth drew open as he gasped for air, but nothing came. All he could hear was the insane laugh the flower was producing. 

“Sans!”

From the darkness flew something odd, smacking into Flowey and making the plant wilt. Sans felt the pressure on his heart release and his body was able to move again. He dropped to his knees, gasping for air only to notice Papyrus’ walkman on the pile of grass. 

Not soon after he felt Papyrus grip his shoulders, standing behind him and leaning over. “Sans! Are you ok?” 

“Yeah, am now…” Sans breathed. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and smiled to his brother. “Thanks, bro.”

“You think… this is over?” Both boys looked to the dim light, where Flowey was rooted. He pulled himself back up, keeping an eerie chuckle to his demented voice. “This is only the beginning of what you will experience! You won’t last a day down in the Underground, I guarantee it! Then you’ll be wishing I was the one to have ended you instead of what lies ahead!”

“Oh yeah?” Papyrus sounded as if he was going to make a comeback, but his shaking and wavering voice prompted him otherwise. “Y-You and what army?”

“Army?” Flowey smiled, which quickly turned into a grin. “ARMY?” He then started to laugh, as if Papyrus had told him a really great inside joke. 

When he was done laughing, he regarded the two with contempt. “Just remember what I said, chubby. Will you try to befriend everyone you meet? Or will you grow tired when everyone wants to murder you and just kill in frustration? I can’t wait to see your choice!”

As if on cue, Flowey gave one last laugh before retreating into the grass beneath it. 

Even when gasping for air earlier, Sans finally felt like he could breath. He took a deep breath, trying not to show the little fear that resided in his heart. “That was some flower, eh Papyrus?”

He turned to his brother with a smile, hoping to get a response. Anything. But all he saw was Papyrus holding onto his backpack, a look of absolute fear in his eyes. “Sans, I want to go home…”

Sans’ smile faltered to see Papyrus like that. He felt some wise-cracks and suggestions come to his mind on how to snap Papyrus out of his fear, but he didn’t really have the energy. Not after that. 

Sans sighed, getting to his feet and pocketing his journal, switching back out for his flashlight. “I know, bro.” 

Papyrus got up with Sans, the two continuing their walk. When they passed the patch of grass, Papyrus grabbed his walkman and placed it back on his pant pocket. 

Sans kept speaking, trying to drone out the deafening silence that lingered in the darkness. “Don’t worry, Papyrus. We’ll be out of here before you know it, dancing to your mixtape and having a great party. We’ll even eat that spaghetti you made and watch those movies you like into the morning.”

Papyrus nodded his head, but didn’t say anything. Sans thought he would have at least made a comment on how awesome the party would be, but he just kept silent. 

Sans stopped and waited for Papyrus to catch up. When he was close enough, he grasped his hand, squeezing it gently. “We’ll be ok, bro.”

Papyrus seemed surprised by Sans’ kind gesture, noticing the warm smile Sans gave him. His eyes were pained.

Papyrus didn’t react for a second, then squeezed his hand back and smiled. “We’ll be ok.” 

Sans nodded his head, then angled his flashlight forward. Before them was another great doorway, to which both boys stepped through and deeper into the Underground.


	3. Level 2

“Why is the room purple?”

Sans looked to his brother, who had taken to wandering off just a few steps before him. Sans merely shrugged before going back to the journal in his hands, having taken to sketching out one of the broken columns before him. 

After leaving the room where they had met Flowey, Sans suggested that they take a few more minutes to rest their aching bodies in case they encountered anymore hostile monsters. Papyrus seemed against it as they were already burning daylight but the moment Sans sat down on a bed of dead, red leaves the tall brother took to scoping out the room.

Just beyond the red leaves were two grey, stone staircases that led to another room above. Unlike outside, this room had light, which made the brothers question where the electricity was coming from.

“Maybe the monsters wanted to paint it purple.” Sans innocently responded, having finished half of his sketch. His eyes kept wandering to the other side of the page, where he had written down some pointers from earlier, some warnings to keep his distance when encountering new monsters, and an unfinished sketch of Flowey. He hoped to never finish it.

“Out of all of the colors they could have chosen.” Papyrus shook his head. “And it’s a bright purple too!”

“What, you an interior decorator now?” Sans asked, giving his irritated brother a smile which only irked him some more.

While Papyrus wasn’t back to his normal self yet, Sans was satisfied in seeing his brother slowly regaining himself and learning to accept that monsters were real. He didn’t want to know what it might have been like for Papyrus to see him almost die by a flower. 

“If I was then this place would be my first project. Everything would be replaced with more cool things, like…” Papyrus placed a few fingers on his chin, as if contemplating his next words. Suddenly his eyebrows lurched up. “Like a nice, stylish grey! And maybe a few sports cars to show off over there, and there.” 

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t freaked out about your car yet.” Sans admitted, going back to his sketch. “That thing is your baby, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but thankfully there’s no one around to steal it so I’m less worried about it.” Papyrus was soon reminded of something, turning his fully body in the direction of Sans. “Which reminds me, when are you going to get your license? I can’t drive you everywhere!”

“Aw, but I like it when you drive.” Sans noticed Papyrus coming over to his spot, which made him close his journal. “You’re so good at it.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Sans.” Papyrus responded, though he did seem to like the compliment. “But I am an awesome driver, that is correct.”

“You sure you don’t want to rest?” Sans slowly rose to stand, placing his journal back in his backpack. “We might not get to for awhile.”

“I’m fine, Sans!” Papyrus looked eager to continue, if not a little annoyed Sans was going so slow. “I want to get out of here as soon as we can before we encounter anymore deadly flowers.”

“Flowey told me not all flowers are monsters.” Sans lifted his backpack up and back onto his back, motioning with his head towards the stairs.

Papyrus pursued. “And you’re going to believe him?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” 

“I hate it when you respond like that!”

Together both brothers ascended the stairs and walked into the next room, where both were greeted to six stone buttons in the floor and their first door. Upon said door was an emblem that was made from a circle in the middle, followed by what appeared to be wings on either side, and to the bottom of it was two upright triangles with an upside down triangle in between the two. 

“Wait, I’ve seen this before.” Papyrus held a hand out, stopping Sans from going any further into the room.

Sans eyed him. “You have?”

“Of course! This is the part where the entrance behind us closes and we get subjected to a deadly trap!” As if expecting it Papyrus soon ran out of the room, staying behind the door frame. 

He gestured a hand. “Hurry, Sans! Before snakes start coming out of the walls or the room fills up with water!”

Sans instead chose to stand in the room, as if asking the supposed trap to spring. He looked to both sides of him, then back to Papyrus. “I don’t think that’s the purpose of this room.” 

“Why not? It’s obviously here to trap us!”

“Or maybe…” Sans looked to the door, walking farther into the room much to Papyrus’ protest. “This is here to keep people from going inside.”

“You mean like… a door?” Papyrus seemed confused, but entered back into the room when nothing seemed to be happening.

Sans just chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, bro. Like a door.”

Sans set down his backpack for a moment, reopening his journal before quickly sketching out the symbol on the door. Papyrus on the other hand looked to the stone buttons, his curiosity piqued. 

“I’m guessing the door only opens by a certain pattern from those buttons.” Sans pointed with his pen without looking, finishing up his sketch. “What pattern though…”

Before Sans could contemplate any suggestions the door suddenly split open. Sans, startled moved backwards, tripping on his own feet and falling down. 

Papyrus’ face came into view as he laid on the ground, though he wasn’t expecting the goofy smile he wore. “Sans, the door magically opened!”

“I noticed that.” Papyrus held out a hand to which Sans took, helping himself up. He brushed off the dust that littered the floor that now clung to his clothes, then bent over to grab his journal and pen. 

When he stood back up he noticed four of the buttons were pushed in. He looked to Papyrus. “How did you know the right combination?”

“Combination?” Papyrus twirled to look back at the buttons. “I just made a square, that’s all. To represent the room.”

Sans stared questionably at the buttons before back at Papyrus who had the silliest smile on his face. Sans couldn’t help but produce the same, placing a hand on Papyrus’ shoulder. “Nice going, bro. You’re a real genius.”

Papyrus felt his cheeks got hot with a light blush, watching Sans walk back over to his backpack. He straightened his back, placing a hand on his chest. “Yes, well, I’m glad we can both see my smartness!” 

“Me too.” Sans readjusted his backpack, motioning his hand for Papyrus to follow. Upon entering the next room however neither of them were expecting to find what laid ahead.

Papyrus lifted a finger questionably. “Is that…?”

Sans nodded his head to confirm Papyrus’ thoughts. To the side of them stretched a long hall, where three bridges waited and running water flowed just beneath them. 

Sans was the first to approach the water, setting down his backpack to the side. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the cold water, about to bring the water to his lips if Papyrus hadn’t harshly spoke. “Sans, don’t drink that!”

“Why not?” Sans turned to look at Papyrus, who kept a safe distance from the water. “It’s just water.”

“You don’t know where it’s been!” Papyrus eyed the water skeptically, as if he was looking at sewage. “What if it’s full of monster gunk?”

“I don’t think it is.” Sans, noticing his water from before having dripped through his fingers took another plunge. “There’s probably a small creak on the mountain that runs through here.”

Before Papyrus could make any more excuses Sans took a sip of the water. Immediately it felt as though his mind had grown sharp, like drinking a good cup of coffee. Even his aches from when he had fallen seemed as though they melted off his body. “Whoa.”

“Whoa?” Papyrus mimicked. “Water shouldn’t make you ‘whoa’.”

Sans motioned Papyrus over, cracking a good grin. “Try this, Papyrus.”

Papyrus however wasn’t as eager as Sans was to give the water a try. “Hmm…” When he had inched himself close enough Sans grabbed his wrist, pulling him down to his level.

With Papyrus on his knees Sans demonstrated cupping his hands, which Papyrus mimicked. Together they both placed their hands in the water, with Sans making an example by taking another sip. Papyrus hesitated, still unconvinced before finally taking a small sip.

Immediately Sans could see the thought train rush through his brother’s mind, straightening his back and making him stare off into the distance. He shook his head to get himself back into the moment. “Whoa.”

“See what I mean?” Sans smiled, watching his brother go for another hand-full. He figured his brother was probably thirsty after all the walking they had done that day, with himself going for another sip. They only had two canteens of water, so it was better not to waste it and go for the free water.

However when Sans looked up from his drink he nearly spilt the rest of the water on himself. Floating just inches above his head was what appeared to be a spirit. Its body was pale with little legs dangling from its whimsy body, small antennas hanging off of its head, fragile wings keeping it suspended in air, and a sorrowful look lining its features. 

Sans had to blink to make sure what he was seeing was true, keeping perfectly still. “Uh, Papyrus?” 

“Hmm?” His brother lifted his head only to spit out the water he was gulping down just seconds go. He physically backed up, instinctively crawling behind Sans. “What is that?!”

The small monster seemed offended by Papyrus’ cries of fear as it started to shake and produce tears. Sans noticed this and looked back just in time to see Papyrus unclip his walkman again, shaking it in his fist. “Get back, you monster!”

“Papyrus, no!” Sans held up his hands, blocking his brother from throwing his cassette player. Papyrus looked to Sans in confusion and anger, but Sans turned his attention back to the monster.

He still kept his hands up, moving an inch forward while the monster floated an inch back. “Hey now, it’s ok. My brother didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Yes I did!” Papyrus yelled, still ready to throw his walkman. “Sans!”

“Chill, bro.” Sans turned back for a second then back to the monster. He gave it a half-hearted smile. “I’m Sans. What’s yours?”

When he extended his hand to the monster the little creature started to sob. Sans withdrew his hand in fear, wincing to watch the monster fly off while still crying. 

Papyrus crawled out from behind Sans, seeming rather content as he clipped back on his walkman. “Heh, that was rather easy. Guess it was scared of our awesome might!”

Sans didn’t smile however, just simply looked at his hand before setting it down. “I guess.” 

He then noticed Papyrus’ walkman. “You’re going to break that if you keep threatening to use it.”

“It’s the only thing I have.” Papyrus responded, though he did take another glance at it. “I forgot my monster weapons back in the car.”

Sans shook his head, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a medium-sized stick. He handed it to Papyrus. “Here, you can use this to bop bad monsters. I found it while you were taking a bathroom break.”

Papyrus eyed the stick, then looked to Sans. “Why did you keep a stick?”

“Does that mean you don’t want it?” Sans felt his teasing smile return, waggling the stick in front of Papyrus’ face.

Papyrus merely grumbled and took the stick, which was only a foot long and devoid of any leaves. He gave Sans a deadpanned expression. “I sometimes wonder what goes through that skull of yours, Sans.”

“Heh…” Sans remarked, though he didn’t say anything afterwards which Papyrus thought he might do. Instead he got back up, tugging on his backpack. “Come on bro, let’s go find an exit.”

Papyrus rose to his feet as well, shaking off the rest of the water on his hands as he tucked away the branch in one of his pockets. His eyes held a bit of determination, hands changing to fists. “And then we can have our totally cool party!”

“Yup, and then we can have our cool party.” Sans closed his eyes for a minute, as if to reflect on the situation. 

Many more times Sans would have to take in the scenery or pause to give himself a moment to think. In going farther into the Underground, Papyrus and Sans found themselves encountering puzzle after puzzle after puzzle. They weren’t too hard with their combined efforts, though Papyrus got especially squeamish near the spiked traps and waved his stick around whenever anymore fragile spirits or frog monsters came their way. Sans, a bit upset he wasn’t able to really sit and talk with any monster, decided to sketch them when he could and jot down any information he could get his hands on.

By the time him and Papyrus had come to what seemed the end of the ruins, he had already given names to the two most frequent monsters they had encountered; Whimsuns and Froggits. 

With his head stuck in his journal, it was Papyrus who had to place his hand on his brother’s shoulder to get his attention. “Sans, look! I think we made it out!”

“We did?” This news alerted Sans to close his journal, though the picture before him was anything but a hole or tunnel out of the mountain. Instead, the two had come upon a quaint little house, with two open windows on the front and an open entrance way in.

Sans regarded his brother. “I don’t think we’re out yet, Papyrus. I think this is someone’s home.”

“Monsters, living in houses?” The notion seemed too far-fetched for Papyrus. “But this is the first house we’ve come upon!”

“Maybe the other monsters don’t live in houses.” Sans shrugged, pocketing his journal yet again. “In fact, all the monsters we’ve encountered were itty bitty.”

“So they must all live in tiny houses!” Papyrus raised a finger to the air, proud of the conclusion he had surmised.

Sans just lightly chuckled. “I don’t think so either, bro. I think one giant monster lives here.”

He placed a hand to his cheek. “But we never encountered any huge monsters. I wonder where-”

“Hey Sans!” Sans looked up from his contemplation to notice Papyrus already inside the house. He waved Sans on over. “Something smells delicious in here! Come on!”

Sans blinked, then shook his head and followed inside with his usual smile. Upon entering the little abode Sans didn’t think how relived he would be to see something that wasn’t purple. The inside was a nice shade of skin color, with a staircase leading down to what he presumed was the basement and two halls to either side. It was very homey, which Sans wasn’t expecting.

“Papyrus?” Sans called out, not seeing his brother from where he stood.

“Over here!” Papyrus stuck his head out from another doorframe to San’s right; a delightful grin smeared on his face. “There’s a pie in the kitchen, Sans! And it smells like Butterscotch!”

Sans gave a toothy grin. “Awesome; could you cut me a slice? I think I’m going to look around.”

By the time Sans asked Papyrus was already back inside the kitchen. “Sure! But uh, I’m obviously not going to eat any pie! Who knows what monsters cook in their pies!”

“Don’t worry, bro. I’ll make sure it’s not poisonous.”

“Thank you!”

Knowing Papyrus would be busy for a little, Sans decided to head to the left to the other hallway. He tried the first door, which to his surprise was open. The door swung idly in as Sans felt the walls for any sort of light switch. When his finger brushed up against something similar, he flicked it on.

The room was soon bathed in light and Sans was able to see. The room was rather quaint, with a bed to the right with several dirty plushies to the side, a dresser across from the door which Sans came in, a small bookshelf with various trinkets set up on display, and a small shoe box beside it. 

“Heh, this looks like a room for children.” Sans said aloud, as if he were having a discussion with himself. He sauntered into the room without a care, taking a glance at everything he could. It was just like a normal room, which wasn’t very interesting and yet very interesting for the environment it was set in. 

With nothing left to see Sans plopped himself on the bed, taking out the pocket watch to check the time. His casual smile dipped a bit when he noticed it was past midnight, they had been gone now for roughly half the day. This wouldn’t concern Sans if not for the fact that he told Papyrus they would be home around then.

He sighed, leaning back a bit with the backpack still on. “What am I going to tell Papyrus? He’ll flip when he sees this.”

He planted his hands to either side of the bed, which was when he felt something odd. Cracking open one eye, he saw a small little shoe beside his hand, innocently resting on the bed. “Heh, you trying to escape too, little shoe?”

The bed creaked when Sans got up from the mattress, picking up the shoe and walking over to the little shoe box on the other end of the room. He got down on his knees and carefully opened the shoe box, starting to put the shoe inside. “There you go, little shoe. All safe and-”

That’s when his smile faltered and fell to a frown. Sans still held the small shoe, except only now he was greeted to several other shoes inside the box. He set the shoe in his hand down, grabbing two random shoes in the box and holding them side by side. Not only were they completely different, but they were different sizes too.

Sans was genuinely confused for a moment, wondering why there were so many mismatched shoes in the box when an idea struck him in the head. His face soon turned grave, remembering the stories of people going missing on the mountain. “Oh no…”

“What are you going on about, Sans?” Sans spun around so quickly it almost frightened Papyrus. He held two plates, both having a slice of pie on each with a fork balanced on top. 

He stood in the doorway with a smile, but when he got a good look at Sans his face dropped. “Sans, what’s wrong?”

Sans noticed this too, wiping a sleeve on his face to hide it. “No-Nothing, bro. You just scared me is all.”

“Ah yes, I am quite stealthy like that, aren’t I?” Papyrus seemed to buy into the lie, extending a plate of pie to Sans who quickly stood up and walked over. “Anyways, here’s your piece. I brought an extra one in case the pie is ok to eat.”

“Thanks, bro.” Sans took the plate, picking up the fork in his left hand. 

Papyrus did the same, excited to watch Sans take the first bite. “Now remember, Sans. If this kills you I don’t know CPR or anything to bring you back to life. So try not to die, ok?”

“Sure thing, Papyrus.” Sans smiled to his brother, hoping he wouldn’t see the underlying concern. “Anything for you.”

Just as he was about to cut into the pie, an unfamiliar voice came through the front entrance to the house. “Hello? Is someone here?”

“Huh?” Papyrus looked towards the open door, not seeing the fear surfacing on Sans face. 

“Run.” Was all Sans muttered, as if in a trance.

“Sans, I can’t hear you when you mu-mumble?!” Papyrus soon found his wrist locked within Sans’ grip, who mad-dashed for the stairs leading down into the house.

“Run!!”

Plates smashed when impacting with the ground, but Sans didn’t bother to turn around and watch. He swung Papyrus ahead of him, pushing him down the stairs as the poor teenager stumbled and almost fell down. “Sans?!”

“I’ll explain later!” Sans cried, eyes looking up as he descended the stairs to see if the monster would follow. 

Sure enough, just as his line of sight had vanished to the walls of the stairs, something stepped into the house. “Who’s there?!”

Sans heard the creature come towards the stairs, but the movement stopped for a moment, then an audible gasp was heard. “Children?!”

This was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps quickly coming down the stairs, just as Sans and Papyrus were exiting to the bottom. “My children, stop! Do not be frightened!”

“Who’s that?” Now Papyrus was the one on edge, trying to regain his balance as he exited the bottom of the stairs. 

“Don’t worry about tha-AT!” Sans tripped on the last step and would have crashed into the ground had Papyrus not caught him.

He struggled to get Sans back to his feet. “I-I got you, bro!” But when lifting his brother back up, his mouth fell open and gawked, almost dropping Sans. “Kn-Knife!!”

“What?” Sans got back to his feet, taking a step back when he saw what Papyrus was pointing at. The silhouette of the creature was coming down the stairs, holding what looked to be a knife in its hands.

“Keep going!” Sans motioned to his brother, who took off running down the long hall that awaited them. Sans pursued right after him, hoping that they hadn’t trapped themselves down in some basement with no way out.

Half of him was scorning himself for jumping the gun, as the monster could have been friendly. But his first encounter with Flowey made Sans weary of meeting another monster, especially with all the shoes he had found hidden away in that room.

“Children, please! I mean you no harm!” The voice was female and talked as if she had a wide assortment of knowledge at her hands, which made Sans start to slow. Her voice was gentle and reassuring. “Please stop! This is all a misunderstanding!”

“Sans, what are you doing?!” Sans didn’t realize he had stopped, his feet planted on the ground. He looked ahead to see Papyrus just a few feet away, motioning wildly with his hands. “Didn’t you see the knife?! We have to get out of here before it chops us up and bakes us into a pie!”

“My children…” The voice sounded close, much closer than Sans would have liked.

He turned his head to the voice, his eyes catching the beast for half a second before something flew in front of him and smashed one of the lights out before him.   
Sans staggered backwards, watching a stick fall to the ground before his feet. “Sans, come on!!”

“Please!” The voice sounded closer, only now Sans couldn’t make out what it was. His mind was a mess, unable to move or make a decision.

The creature’s footsteps were slow, as if it were coaxing a wild animal towards it. “I know you must be scared, but I can help you. What you are running towards is something far worse than either of you can imagine, and the world outside these ruins is not forgiving. They will only treat you with malicious intent and harm you, but I only want to protect you, my children. We can live here happily, together!”

“Sans!” Sans found himself shaking his head from how much it moved from the soothing voice to Papyrus. 

“Just take my hand, my child.” A single hand slowly moved out from the darkness, frightening Sans. It was gentle however and open, with white fur covering the hand. Sans wondered how soft it would feel to touch it. 

His eyes looked up to the black silhouette, masked behind the darkness in front of him. He could see the warm smile on her face. “You don’t have to be afraid, anymore.”

Sans lifted his hand instinctively, as if to take the offer.

“Sans!” Hearing his voice called shocked Sans into turning around, his hand still hovering in the air. Papyrus looked absolutely miserable, as if he had lost his brother. “Have you forgotten our party?”

Party. The word rang through Sans skull like a bullet, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in. His eyes widened as he quickly withdrew his hand, instead his hand grabbed the stick before him and ran over to Papyrus. “We need to get out of here.”

Papyrus followed suit behind Sans, rounding a corner in doing so and out of the hall. “Sans, you’re back! I knew you wouldn’t give in!”

“Of course not, bro.” Sans remarked, turning his head for a second to flash his toothy grin. “I could never leave you behind.”

“My children!” The monster pursued once more, alarmed by Sans choice. 

In rounding the corner the two brothers were faced with a giant door before them, bearing the same symbol as the first door they had encountered. A way out.

Running up to the door, Sans pulled on one of the sides with all his might, but nothing moved. Papyrus soon stepped in, hands grabbing at the crack and nodding his head to Sans. “On three!”

“Three!” 

Pulling at the same time, the brothers felt the door slowly budge, then slide back into them. They fumbled over one another but eventually pushed one another through, pushing the door back with what little strength they had left.

“Please, don’t do this to yourselves!” The female voice cried, which made it harder for Sans to close the door. The voice was so pained. 

He shut his eyes and forced the voice out of his mind, using the rest of his muscles along with Papyrus to seal the door again. 

With a sudden jolt the door slammed close, throwing both boys onto the ground and on top of each other. Sans landed on top of Papyrus, who groaned with the additional weight. “Sans!”

“Sorry.” Sans pulled himself to his knees, while Papyrus sat himself up and propped his back on the door. Both stared at one another for a few seconds until Papyrus cut the silence with a snort and started to laugh.

Sans felt himself get a little chuckle before it erupted into a full-blown laugh, which Papyrus had already succumb to. It was so loud in fact, that Sans could hear the words that made up his laugh. “Nyeh heh heh!”

Both knew it was nervousness that drove them to laugh so hard, but there was something else underlining their fits of giggles. Something sincere and loving.

Sans finished before Papyrus, allowing his brother to calm down on his own. When his laughs weren’t so hard Sans fished out the stick he grabbed and handed it back to Papyrus. “Here’s your stick, Papyrus.”

“Thanks.” Papyrus took it, placing it rightfully back in his pocket. 

“That was pretty genius of you, breaking the light.” Sans gestured a hand while shrugging. “I might have been baked into a pie if not for your quick thinking.”

“Yes well,” Papyrus lightly blushed, deciding to get back up on his feet. “Someone has to look out for you, right?”

Sans nodded. “Right. I’m glad it’s you.” 

As Sans occupied himself with getting back up, Papyrus motioned ahead and took a few steps. “Now come on, you lazy bag of bones. We have a hole to find.”

“Right behind you, bro.” Sans responded, starting their journey once more. But before he got into a full stride he felt himself stop and look back at the door. His eyes went to his hand that he raised, then back to the door before he dropped both and continued ahead with Papyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: In the Fanfiction and Deviantart stories, the pie is Cinnamon.


	4. Level 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crocodile Rock is owned by Elton John

In leaving the ruins, Sans and Papyrus stepped out into a world of grey and white. 

The first thing Papyrus did was place his hands on his arms and cross his legs, already shivering from the cold. His breath materialized in front of his face only to disappear a few inches above his head. “Sn-Snow? Wh-why is there snow down here??”

Papyrus eagerly looked to Sans for an answer, but his brother shrugged his shoulders with a questionable look. What baffled Sans more was the two rows of pine trees on either side of a snowy trail; extending high into the black sky where a ceiling was nonexistent from his eyesight.

Papyrus blew some hot air into his hands, teeth chattering. “W-well, let’s keep go-going!” 

He took a few steps, if one could call them steps. Really Papyrus was dragging his feet through the snow, bent over in a futile attempt to stay warm.

Sans walked past his brother, stopping him with an extended hand. “Here, bro. I got this.”

Sans then set down his backpack, opening the main compartment and digging around. Papyrus scoffed at Sans attempt. “Re-Really, Sans… wh-what could you have th-that would help…?”

Sans eyed his brother with a knowing smile as his hand brought with it a sea of red. Papyrus’ eyes grew wide to see Sans’ red winter jacket as he stood up. He slung the backpack back over his shoulders, extending the jacket to Papyrus. “I don’t know, maybe a winter jacket.”

Papyrus snatched the jacket from Sans’ hands, staring at it before looking up at Sans questionably. “Wh-Why did you pack this?”

Sans shrugged. “I just like to be prepared. Now put it on before you catch a cold.”

Papyrus gave Sans another suspicious look but didn’t fight his brother. Unzipping the red jacket, Papyrus soon felt relief wash over him as the jacket well covered his chest and arms. “Thanks, Sans.”

“Heh, no problem.” Sans was only able to take a few steps before he heard Papyrus speak up.

“You’re not going to wear anything?”

“Nope, I didn’t pack two.” As if to count it out Sans lifted up two fingers. “But that’s ok, I’m big-boned. And all fat kids are just naturally warm, right?”

Papyrus didn’t smile to Sans’ remark, who kept his smile as if asking Papyrus to laugh. “Who told you that?”

“No one.” Sans motioned with his head, which got Papyrus moving again. “Don’t worry so much about me. I’ll be fine.”

Papyrus looked as though he wanted to say something back, but decided to keep it to himself. The two trudged through the thick layer of snow in the ground which seemed to stretch forever, but both were thankful there wasn’t any wind or snow falling to make things worse.

“Someone should really put a path here.” Papyrus commented, lifting his feet high above the snow whenever he walked. 

“That’s not a bad idea.” Sans remarked. “But who would build it?”

“Some local monsters?” Papyrus gave his brother a quick glance as they continued walking, with Papyrus slowly gaining a lead on Sans. “In fact I might have to if there isn’t one soon.”

“Heh, sorry, bro. I forgot to pack my shovel.” Sans gave Papyrus and wink with his smile, which irritated Papyrus. 

Papyrus opened his mouth to speak but upon looking ahead, his expression changed. “Sans, look! A bridge!”

Sans then watched his brother run towards it, but the way he ran with his feet up made it look like he was hopping over hurdles. Sans shook his head before running after him. “Don’t leave me behind, bro.”

And so the two brothers continued their journey through the snowy world they were immersed in. Papyrus almost cried tears when after crossing the bridge there was a clear path, but the fell he took on the slippery, icy path turned those happy tears into ones of pain. Sans couldn’t help but chuckle and leave his brother to crawl after him.

The farther they went in the snowy world, the more monsters the two encountered. Sans tried once more to make small-talk with the monsters but it was hard when Papyrus had taken to his stick again and swung it through the air like some hero. It seemed to boost some of Papyrus’ confidence when doing so, even if he was still shaking whenever he delivered his monologue on how ‘the Great Papyrus’ would trounce them.

They walked through barren fields where it felt something was missing. From time to time the two would stop to take a rest. Sans would excitedly sketch in his journal and write down his discoveries while Papyrus would take a sip of their water or munch on a few snacks Sans packed. 

By the time they crossed the long, rickety bright and reached the outskirts of a town, both brothers were starting to form bags under their eyes from how tired they were becoming and how badly the cold was nipping at their skin. Even Sans had resorted to using his hands to warm up his arms, and even when Papyrus offered his jacket back Sans wouldn’t take it.

“Sans,” Papyrus started, his feet dragging behind him with every step. “I’m starting to wonder if we’re ever going to get out of here.”

Sans glanced to his brother in concern, noticing the hope that was starting to disappear in his eyes. “We haven’t gotten close to any sort of hole outside, and this world just keeps going on and on.” 

He lowered his head, as if to admit defeat.

Sans quickly moved closer to his brother, giving him a silly smile. “Oh come on, Papyrus. Don’t give up. We’ll find a way out soon, I promise.”

But Papyrus didn’t acknowledge his brother, just continually staring at the ground. Sans’ eyebrows lurched up in fear, quickly scanning the sights before them for anything that might help. They had just passed a sign that welcomed them into the town of Snowdin, which was as barren as the snowy world they traversed. 

His eyes soon caught the sign of a restaurant, proclaiming ‘Grillbys’, and with it his determination flared. He gently grabbed his brother’s hand, quickening their pace to the small establishment. “You’re just cold, bro. Come on, let’s go inside and warm up.”

Papyrus didn’t resist the pull; eyes looking to the place Sans was leading them to. He shook his head. “Sans, what are you doing? There’s going to be monsters inside.”

“So what?” Sans asked, his voice growing irritated. “If they try anything I’ll protect us. Now come on, you need to get warmed up.”

Papyrus kept trying to resist but the way his voice dragged and what little effort he put into his excuses alerted Sans more to the situation. He knew his brother was slipping. Opening the door, Sans pushed Papyrus inside before closing the door gently behind him.

Already Sans could feel the temperature of the place warming him up, allowing his hands to rest back at his side. Papyrus however kept his glum outlook, but he silently moved behind Sans when noticing the occupants of what appeared to be a small bar.

The tables were filled with all sorts of different monsters, wearing oddities of clothing or over-sized hats and scarves for the cold winter outside. To the right were a few booths, also filled with monsters and to the left was a small wooden stage, where a few band members looked glumly at their instruments. A lone trombone and a mic were left on stage. 

At the far end of the establishment was what appeared to be a woman manning the bar. She wore a white button up shirt, a small black vest and black, thick-framed glasses. She was handing one customer a plate of hot food, but the only thing off about her was the fact that she was made entirely of fire, except for her clothes. A small, little flame could also be seen behind the bar with the same thick glasses, staring at them.

In fact, everyone was staring at them.

Sans was used to a million eyes being upon him, but that didn’t mean it never made him nervous. He smiled for his brother though and shrugged the stares off. “Come on, let’s find a seat.”

He led his brother farther into the bar, finding an empty booth to sit at. Upon sitting down though the occupants to the right of them got up and left, the door slamming behind them.

Sans winced to the loud sound as he set his backpack to the side of him, but his primary focus for the moment was Papyrus. He looked like a lost puppy, idly moving his finger across the table in an unspecific way. 

“Come on, bro.” Sans pleaded, noticing how still the bar was. 

His eyes narrowed to the occupants. “What, you haven’t seen two human-like monsters sit down to get a bite?”

“What makes you not human?” A random, accusing voice rose up from the occupants. The ball was back in Sans’ court.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly his eyes caught his hand, showing it to the occupants. “Because we have five fingers. Everyone knows that humans only have four, so we can’t be human.”

He hoped his lie would work. He didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t, and Sans knew for sure he wasn’t going to let them lay a hand on Papyrus. However what surprised him was the soft whispers that floated through the bar after he talked. 

“Do humans really have four fingers?”

“Those cartoons were right! They do have four fingers!”

“I thought for sure they had five. ...or was it four? Man, now I’m confused!”

The hostility that lingered in the bar dispersed, and once more the bar was filled with noise. No one paid attention to Sans or Papyrus for a second longer, which allowed Sans to breathe a sigh of relief. 

He looked back to Papyrus, who seemed to have watched the whole scene go down. He eyed Sans, who merely shrugged and gave a wink and a smile. “What?”

“Should I even ask what time it is?” Sans’ smile fell when Papyrus spoke. His hands dropped behind the table.

In a desperate attempt Sans gave a half-smile. “What, you don’t think I can get us home in time? Really, Papyrus.”

But Papyrus only outstretched his hand, and reluctantly Sans pulled out the pocket watch. He set it in his hands, looking away. “Just… don’t be too upset, ok?”

When Papyrus opened the clock his eyebrows shot up his face and his mouth threatened to hit the ground. He looked to Sans, ready to start shouting and making a fuss. But when he noticed how his brother wasn’t looking at him, as if expecting him to do all those things, Papyrus willed himself to relax.

“Well, this really isn’t anyone’s fault.” Sans blinked, head turning back to his brother. He had a half-hearted smile on his face, handing the pocket watch back.

Sans reluctantly took it. “So we might have missed our own party, big deal. We can just throw a bigger, better party when we get home, and I’m sure we can explain this to mom somehow.”

Papyrus gave Sans a bigger smile when his face was still blank. That was, until Sans started to chuckle, burying his face into his shirt. “God Papyrus, you’re so strong.”

“Nyeh, well…” Papyrus reached across the table, placing a hand on Sans’ shoulder. “That’s part of what makes me an awesome brother I guess.”

Sans lifted his face back up, weakly smiling to his brother. They shared the same smile, and immediately both felt warm inside. 

“Can I get you two something?” Both boys turned their heads to the front of the booth, where the fire-lady waited for them. She had a melting pencil in one hand and a smoking pad of paper in the other, really giving the boys something to be warm about. Her voice was smoky, like when you tried to blow out a candle.

Papyrus looked back to Sans, who had regained his usual smile. “Get anything you want, bro. It’s on me.”

“Really?” Papyrus’ smile grew, eagerly looking to the bar-attendant. “Do you have spaghetti?” 

“We do.” The fire-lady wrote down the order. Her attention then went to Sans.

He shrugged. “I’ll have the same.”

“Your food should be ready soon.” The fire-lady took a step back and then walked back over to the bar, leaving black scorch marks on the ground from where she stood.

Papyrus got comfortable in the booth seat he was sitting in, closing his eyes for a moment. He cracked one open to look to Sans. “You know, Sans, this trip hasn’t been too bad. Sure, we almost died twice and everyone seems to have a grudge against humans, but I’m enjoying the time with you.”

“Aw jeez, Papyrus.” Sans felt a small blush come to his face. He scratched at his red cheeks. “I like hanging out with you too.”

“Well? What’s the pager say?”

“No dice guys, they’re not coming.”

Sans’ attention went to the corner of the bar, where he had picked up the end of a conversation. It seemed to have come from the band members who were still in a slump, only now they looked even worse.

Sans turned back to Papyrus for a second, already leaving his seat. “I’ll be right back, bro.”

Papyrus didn’t seem to mind, closing his eyes again and placing his hands behind his head. “Alright, but if you’re not back fast enough your spaghetti is mine!”

“Sounds fair.” Moving his way by tables and occupants, Sans briskly walked over to the band. It consisted of a mouse with huge ears on an old-timey piano, a white dog with heart-shades on his face while holding a saxophone and a tiny, amphro-morphic elephant on the chello. 

“I overheard you guys from where I sat. Is there a problem?” Sans asked, which got the attention of the band.

With a sad sigh the mouse spoke up. “There sure is one. Our lead singer and trombone player had a gig at the hotel in Hotland before this, but King Asgore made an appearance and now they ditched us to go and play an encore for him.”

“King Asgore?” Sans asked. The thought of a monarchy in this world never occurred to Sans, but with the intake of information his mind buzzed to be fed more.

The dog nodded his head, his voice a lot higher than Sans would have thought. “The King loves to go and support small gigs like us when he’s not helping others. His majesty is one wicked fellow.”

“Wicked or not,” The elephant spoke up, who shook his hips whenever he talked. “We’re down two players, so we can’t perform tonight! It just wouldn’t be the same without everyone playing.”

Sans eyed the lone trombone on stage, then the mic. It looked as though the monsters in the bar had come to hear them play, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Sans took a deep breath, giving the band a smile. “Why don’t I play then?”

“You know how to sing?” The mouse asked.

Sans shook his head with a chuckle. “If singing broke glass, then yes. Nah, I like to think of myself an expert on the trombone, though.”

“Wicked.” The dog coolly responded, grabbing for the trombone. He handed it to Sans, who held it delicately in his hands.

The elephant was the only one who seemed reluctant. “That’s nice of you to offer, but without a lead singer this band isn’t playing anything. If you know anyone who would want to sing, that would really help us.”

“I think I know someone.” Sans turned his head back over to where Papyrus sat and where he saw his brother happily slurping down his pasta.

He made his way back over to the booth as Papyrus waved him over. “Sans, the food arrived! And it’s scorching hot, but your tongue gets numb to it after a few bites!”

He slurped up a few more noodles but stopped when Sans didn’t sit back down. “Well? You going to sit?”

His fork then pointed to the instrument in Sans’ hands. “And where did you get the trombone?” 

Papyrus eyed the backpack suspiciously, which made Sans chuckle. “Nah bro, those guys over there lent it to me. I’m going to play a few songs with them.”

“Oh.” Papyrus absentmindedly picked up some more pasta with his fork. “Well have fun then.”

“See, we can’t start until we find a singer.” Sans remarked, watching the spaghetti with tomato sauce disappear into Papyrus’ mouth.

“So?” Papyrus asked, grabbing for his napkin to the side. “Why are you telling me-”

He paused when a thought came to his head, and it was only more confirmed when Sans grinned. “Sans, no! I’m not singing!”

“Aw come on, bro.” Sans gestured with his head over to the band. “They would really appreciate it. And you have such a great voice.”

“That’s not what dad says…” Papyrus set down his fork, looking away from Sans with a frown.

For a moment, a flash of anger showed itself on Sans face. He grabbed Papyrus’ wrist, and when he looked back to Sans his anger was buried with a smile and a wink. “I wouldn’t lie to you, right? And I know good talent, so you should smile when I say your voice is great.”

“I don’t think so, Sans.” Papyrus glumly looked at his pasta. “True, I’m vastly great at many things. But singing… singing isn’t one of them.”

“Nah, bro. I know you got this.” Sans lightly pulled on Papyrus’ arm, then harder before dragging his brother away from the booth.

Papyrus struggled to get out of Sans’ grip, fighting him as they walked across the bar. “Sans, I said no! Nngh, let go of me! C-Can’t I at least finish my spaghetti?”

The band members watched Sans drag Papyrus over to where they sat, where he promptly pushed his brother forward. “Monsters, meet my brother, Papyrus. He said he would sing for us.”

The band members looked to one another wearily. The elephant was the one to say what was one their minds. “You uh… sure about that?”

Sans winked. “Totally. Isn’t that right, Papyrus?”

He glanced at his brother, whose face reflected the awkwardness of the situation and his steadily growing fear. Sans noticed his hand twitch near his pocket that held his stick, but he was thankful he didn’t quickly grab it and swing it around. Instead he heard his brother take a large gulp and step forward. “Er… yes.”

He coughed into his hand, straightening his back. “Yes, I can sing.”

“Wicked.” The dog gave Sans a content smile, before motioning with his thumb to the stage. “Papyrus, get up on stage. Sans, you’re down here with us.”

“Really? On stage?” Papyrus looked to the wooden slate a foot off the ground. He tugged on the winter jacket he wore, as if it was getting to hot. “Where uh… everyone can see me?”

“Yeah, that one.” The dog didn’t seem to pick up on the nervousness, instead only testing his saxophone to make sure it would play right.

The mouse started doing the same, playing a few warm-ups which got the bar’s attention.

Sans motioned for his brother to get on stage, which he did so reluctantly. His baby steps slowly got him over to the mic, where he promptly froze and clung to the mic stand as if it were his lifeline.

“Erm, is it hot in here?” Papyrus quietly asked, pulling on his jacket again.

“Just take the jacket off.” Sans replied, once more giving his brother a knowing smile. “You’ll feel better.”

Papyrus eyed his brother, but did as he was told. He let the jacket drop to the ground, producing a small smile. “Hey, it’s not so hot anymore.”

“See?” Sans’ attention was soon drawn to the other players, or more specifically a music sheet they were trying to hand him.

“Here’s the song we’re playing.” The elephant gave Sans a few sheets of music, which he thumbed through. “Have you heard it?”

Sans quickly skimmed over the sheet before looking at the title. “Wow, a 70’s song. You guys are old-school.”

“Well, we can only play what floats down the river into our world.” The mouse piped up, turning his head to Sans. “We were lucky to find a soaked cardboard box with a bunch of sheet music in it. Some of it was unsalvageable, but that piece luckily wasn’t ruined.”

“This is a good one.” Sans smiled, then turned to his brother. He waved the sheet music gently through the air to get his attention. “Hey, Papyrus. We’re doing a jazz-version of ‘Crocodile Rock’.”  
“That song?” Papyrus cocked an eyebrow. “That’s old!”

“But a goodie.” Sans added, handing out the papers for Papyrus to take. “Here are the lyrics.”

Papyrus walked over and took the papers, flipping through them. His eyes went back over to Sans, who was warming up with the rest of the band. “Sans?”

“Yeah, bro?” Sans stopped playing for a second, noticing the nervousness smeared on his face. Papyrus didn’t have to speak his concerns for Sans to understand. 

He gave him a light nod. “You’ll do great. Just be yourself and blow them away.”

“Easy for you to say down there.” Papyrus grumbled, but he went back over to the mic anyways. He tapped on the mic lightly, hearing the thud of his finger resonate around the bar. 

The fire-lady, who was cleaning some glass with a burning cloth nodded her head to the band, to which the mouse responded back. She then reached behind her, lowering a switch which in turn dimmed the lights in the bar. Now only a single light fell upon Papyrus.

Papyrus felt a nervous sweat start to pool on his body, the only sound now being the band finishing up their practice. When they were done the elephant smiled to Sans and Papyrus. “Alright everyone, we ready?”

Sans nodded his head, while Papyrus did so hesitantly. The elephant nodded back. “Oh, and thanks again for helping us in our time of need.”

With a few nods of the head, the band got in position before starting the song. The air of the bar filled with the sound of piano keys being tapped, strings plucked, buttons pressed in and the arm of a trombone being pulled in and out. 

The light conversation that had taken over the place blew away to hear the music, and Papyrus knew it would be his time to sing soon. His body locked up, eyes staring into the distance as if he was about to get hit by a semi. 

He looked to Sans as if there was an escape, some type of Mercy on Sans face to let him flee. But Sans shook his head and then nodded for him to start. Hands shaking, Papyrus looked to the music sheet and opened his mouth. 

_I-I remember when ro-rock was young…_

_M-Me and Suzy had so much f-fun…_

The singing was so stale and flustered that the occupants of the bar looked to each other in question. Even the band members gave a glace of weariness, but continued to play for if they stopped then there would be no starting over. 

Sans could hear the fear in his brother’s voice, shaking his head before standing up from where he sat. 

_H-Holding hands and-_

Papyrus stopped singing when he noticed Sans groove his way on stage, then proceeded to bop next to Papyrus while still playing. 

Papyrus hunched over and whispered to Sans in an accusatory way. “Sans, what are you doing?”

“Just keep going, don’t mind me.” Sans quickly whispered when taking a breath, then went back to playing.

Papyrus would have continued the argument further if not for the fact that the band was stalling now for Papyrus to continue. He cleared his throat, trying to ignore his eccentric brother. 

_Holding hands and skimming stones,_

_Had an old gold Chevy with a place of my own._

As Papyrus sung again he noticed his fear was starting to disappear, in fact the audience looked more into the song now. He looked down to Sans, who urged him to continue with his eyes and smile through his mouth piece.

Papyrus smiled back, then gripped the mic stand harder, but not in fear.

_But the biggest kick I ever got,_

_Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock._

_While the other kids were Rocking ‘Round the Clock,_

_We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock._

The chello started to make its appearance in the song, as the occupants were starting to get jiggy in their seats. Some even dared to stand up and bounce in their stance, and soon the sound of chairs being pushed back occupied the air for a few seconds.

Papyrus felt his smile blow up into a grin, and Sans couldn’t help but grin as well. He then danced around Papyrus as he continued.

_Well Croc Rocking, is something shocking when you’re feet just can’t keep still._

_I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will._

Getting into the song himself Papyrus took the mic off of the stand, his movements getting crazier.

_Oh mama mama, those Friday nights!_

_But Suzy wore her dresses tight_

_And Crocodile Rocking was out of sight!_

The crowd blew up into a chorus of ‘La’s’ and funky dance moves when Papyrus pointed to them. The tall brother couldn’t help but laugh in between his singing, while Sans had to hold his back since he was playing.

The band members all gave each other one big, cheesy grin as their playing felt and sounded more fun. Even the fires at the back of the bar swayed with the song, with the little flame sitting on the counter with his feet swinging idly and clapping along with the song.

This went on for the rest of the song, where Papyrus bellowed out his chords with as much fun and enthusiasm as he could muster. While his singing wasn’t the greatest thing, it was his determination to keep going and keep the song alive that really made the monsters move and grove. Sans couldn’t have been more proud of his brother.

Just as the song came to an end, with the crowd cheering for an encore, the door to the bar slammed open. Papyrus dropped the mic upon seeing what came through, while Sans’ smile vanished completely, the trombone falling with his arms. “Oh damn.”

Black armor made its way inside the bar and with it came three figures. Two were suited up from head to toe, with one having a long, armored tail and the other one had a bigger tail covered in armor and pointy ears sticking out of the helmet. The third one, whose helmet rested in its gauntlet, had a bright green, parrot head and a crazy, yellow Mohawk. A long, black bow was strapped to his back, but as far as Papyrus and Sans could see there was no quiver holding any arrows. He was the most intimidating, since unlike the other two his build was far superior.

His head twitched as it scanned the room. “Settle down, Monsters! We’ve gotten reports that two humans have surfaced in the Underground, and I, Sagiv, head of the Royal Guard, will make sure that the two are to be captured and taken to the King so that their souls may be harvested!”

“Taken to whom?” Papyrus squeaked, his body locking again in an awkward position with his legs crossed and his arms behind his back.

Sans was in the same boat as Papyrus. “Harvest our _what_?” His heart suddenly felt very tight again, much like when he was in the presence of Flowey.

Suddenly the crowd looked to Papyrus and Sans once more, only now it was out of curiosity and confusion. It wasn’t long before the knights noticed them under the only light in the bar. “There they are!”

“Sans!” Papyrus screeched, dashing behind his brother while Sans started to back up when the knights pushed through the crowds. 

Suddenly three more figures leapt onto the stage, blocking the knights from the two humans as well as their eyesight. It was the other band members, who held their instruments in their hands, save for the mouse.

“Sagiv, we’re your biggest fans!” The mouse proclaimed, with all three of them standing in a horizontal line. 

“Yeah, allow us to play something wicked for you.” The dog chimed in, already bringing the saxophone to his lips and bellowing out a chord. 

The two knights that were making their way through the crowd stopped to hear the saxophone solo, with the dog playing with all his might and skill. 

The elephant started to join in, quickly glancing behind him at Papyrus and Sans who were frozen like statues. He motioned with his head to the other side of the room, eyes desperate. 

They were letting them escape.

Sans nodded his head back and mouthed ‘Thank you’ before pushing Papyrus to move once more. They escaped into the darkness of the bar and out of the light, where Sans whispered for Papyrus to stay put. Getting down on his knees, Sans then moved his way back over to the other side of the bar and to where his backpack laid.

“Hey, this is pretty jazzy.” One knight remarked as the elephant started to play and the mouse having hopped back onto his piano chair to join.

“Yeah, reminds me of those early mornings when I was a young monkey-monster.” The other one regarded, both snapping their fingers to the music.

Sagiv shook his head before letting out a loud squawk, “Knights!”

Immediately they stopped dancing, their heads slightly hung in shame. “Go get the humans!”

“Right away, Sir.” Both said, moving over to the light source again. Sans by this time was close to the booth where he had sat, grabbing the nearest shoulder of his backpack.

Slowly he slid it off the chair and over to him, but Sagiv turned his head in his direction. He didn’t know if he had been too loud or if Sagiv was that good, for the head of the Royal Guard threw his arms up into the air and screeched. “Human!!”

Desperately Sans slung his backpack around his shoulders and ran to the back of the bar. Sagiv gave chase but it didn’t last long before the occupants of the bar threw themselves in front of him.

“I love you, Sagiv!”

“Let’s dance, everyone!”

“Sagiv, tell me how you got to be the leader of the Royal guard!”

“G-Get off me!” Sagiv tried lightly pushing monsters off of him, but to no avail as the swarm moved around him.

The two knights, now up on center stage dove after the fleeing Sans, but the dog pushed one of them back into the other, making both of them topple. “Hey knights, slow down. You haven’t heard the best part yet.”

“Sans!” Papyrus madly whispered, motioning him over to where he stood. With no time to waste Sans grabbed Papyrus’ hand and pulled him along, where both noticed the fire lady open the bar table for them and another door.

They both slipped inside into what was to be assumed the kitchen and out into the blistering cold again, which happened to be the back of the bar.

“Get as far away as you can. We’ll stall them.” The fire-lady said to Papyrus and Sans, who kept the door mostly closed behind them.

“Why are you helping us?” Papyrus asked, back to freezing and shaking in his shoes. 

“I love jazz.” The fire-lady breathed, then gave Papyrus what both of them believed to be a wink. “Keep warm, humans.”

She then shut the door behind them, leaving both of them to stare at one another.

“Did a being of fire just wink at me?” Papyrus asked, not knowing whether to blush or be confused.

“See, bro, what did I tell you? You’ve already gained a fan.” Sans allowed himself one joke before dashing off with Papyrus in pursuit again.

The two ran as best as they could through the deep snow behind the bar, and with Papyrus leaving his red jacket behind there was nothing to stop the freezing air from biting at their skin.

“Over there!” Papyrus pointed a finger forward, to which both of them noticed a small, old shack just down the town. It looked abandoned and desolate, practically the perfect place to hide out in.

Papyrus gained speed in hopes of reaching it faster, but a hefty pull from Sans almost made him fall into the snow. “No!”

“No?” Papyrus asked when he stopped, irritation showing on his face. “We need to hide, Sans!”

“They’ll look for us there.” Sans looked over his shoulder and beyond Grillby’s, noticing what appeared to be a hotel nearby. “Come on.”

Together Papyrus and Sans ran back behind Grillbys and over to the hotel, where they let themselves in at a quick pace. Just before doing so Sans smudged the trail behind him, hoping that they wouldn’t see the trail of footsteps coming over to the building.

A young, rabbit man attended the counter of the hotel, surprised when Sans ran up to him with his hand open. “Not human. Humans only have 4 fingers we have five. Can we get a room?”

“Uh, sure?” The rabbit looked to the two of them and how both had an air of suspicion around them. “That’ll be 160 G.”

“Sure, sure.” Sans rasped his fingers on the table, as if the knights would burst in any second. “Can we pay in the morning?”

The rabbit man shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” He then handed them their key. “Enjoy your stay.”

Sans snatched the key out of the rabbit man’s hands. “Thanks.”

The two then fast-walked, as dashing would have made the monster more suspicious, up the stairs and to the only other room that didn’t have several snores coming from the door. They unlocked the door and allowed themselves inside, with Papyrus slamming the door behind them and locking it.

His breathing was irrational. “Did you hear that parrot back there?” 

He pushed himself off the door, looking around the room and speaking quietly as if the knights were listening in. “They’re going to take our souls for their King! They’re going to **murder** us!”

Sans didn’t reply, merely keeping one of his hands over his heart. He sat on the side of the bed next to the curtain-less window, watching the snow outside. 

Papyrus on the other hand went about pacing the room, hands on his head. “I knew this was a terrible idea, I knew we shouldn’t have come here! If I hadn’t let you talk me into going with you to this mountain neither of us would be in this situation, and we wouldn’t be hunted down like some wild animal!!”

“My bad.” Sans muttered, but it wasn’t with his usual smile. He was in the middle of processing everything that had just happened, and Papyrus’ small rant was being left behind.

“Are you even listening to me?” Sans looked up to Papyrus, who was angry beyond belief at the moment.

Sans nodded his head. “I am, Papyrus. Honest.”

He then looked away. “…I’m sorry.”

Papyrus blew some air out of his nose, then released a deep sigh as if his brain had given up. He plopped himself down next to Sans, face in his hands. “What are we going to do, Sans? The Royal Guard will be looking for us.”

Sans let his hand drop from his chest, instead using it to place it on Papyrus’ shoulder. “Hey bro, it’ll be ok. We’re sticking with our original plan still. We’re going to find our way out before the Royal Guard can catch us.”

“What if they do?” Papyrus meekly asked. He shook his head. “Tiny monsters I can handle, but a stick to those guys?”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Sans tried to smile for Papyrus, hoping he would look at him. “Leave that to me. Now get some sleep, bro. I know you’re tired.”

“I doubt I’ll get any.” Papyrus took his head out of his hands, letting out a defeated sigh. His eyes darted back to the bed. “Besides, the bed is too tiny for both of us.”

Sans shrugged. “No sweat. I’ll just sleep on the floor. Problem solved.”

“Are you sure about that?” Papyrus asked, watching his brother get up off the bed and sit on the floor. 

Sans nodded his head, getting comfy on the rug that rested beside the bed. “I’m sure. Now go to bed, bro, and don’t worry about any of this. I got it covered.”

Papyrus gave his brother a confused look, as if to ask why Sans was acting the way he was. He merely shrugged back and motioned for his brother to lay down, which he did reluctantly. Sans on the other hand used his backpack as make-shift pillow underneath him, staring at the dark ceiling above him.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke. Then, Papyrus uttered a sound. “Sans?”

“Yeah, bro?” 

“… Goodnight.” It sounded like Papyrus wanted to say something else, but decided against it. 

Sans however just closed his eyes. “Goodnight Papyrus.”

He waited until Papyrus’ turning settled down, and didn’t open his eyes until he heard Papyrus start up with his snoring. 

It was at this moment that Sans allowed himself to sit back up and take a deep breath of air, his hand finding itself back on his chest. Eyes moved over to Papyrus’ body that slept soundly, before back at the door in front of them. He knew he wasn’t going to sleep well tonight.

What surprised Sans the most was the hot tears he felt fall onto his hand. He moved his hand off his chest, which was shaking before up to his cheeks that felt hot to the touch.

Letting out a small sob, Sans curled up in himself and allowed the tears to continue, shaking his head every so often. He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he did he knew it was with sobs in between his breaths.


	5. Level 4

_“Good job, Sans.”_

_Sans found himself blinking madly, the world around him different than where he cried himself to sleep. He was inside a small, brightly lit classroom, where he found himself sitting in a seat in the front row._

_“What?” He was about to turn his head back but the clearing of a throat stopped him._

_“Sans?” He turned his attention to the front of him, where an imposing figure stood._

_A tall woman, whose hair was cut short and eyes sharp held out a paper for Sans to take. “Your test.”_

_“Oh, thanks.” Sans gripped the paper and by taking it the teacher moved on. Sans looked to the paper first, noticing a 100 written at the top followed by his calculations. Wait, he knew where he was._

_Head turned back, Sans recognized a lot of the students that were in the class. There was Jeremy who always sat by the door, leaving immediately when the bell struck, and Tia looked glumly at her paper just a few seats down from him. She considered herself his ‘rival’ but the way she made scores on her test was a joke to Sans._

_This was his algebra two class in high school._

_But where was-?_

_“Papyrus.” The way the teacher said the name aloud, it was disappointed, but to be expected._

_Sans scanned the room behind him before finally finding the teacher hovering near one desk, and with it the tallest teenager in class. Papyrus seemed to fiddle with the cords of his headphones, eyes unable to meet the teacher. “Y-Yes?”_

_She merely handed his him paper before proceeding back to her desk. He watched Papyrus grip the paper, his eyes growing wide before burying his head on the desk._

_Upon seeing that Sans felt his heart ache, but he didn’t have time to linger on it as the bell suddenly rang. The other students made their way out of the class but Papyrus still stayed in his seat._

_Sans pushed himself out of his seat, walking over to where Papyrus laid. His breath was caught in this throat. “Papyrus?”_

_When he saw his brother’s shoulders move his concern grew, placing a hand on said shoulder. “Hey, it’s ok. You just need more tutoring.”_

_“Sans.” Papyrus lifted his head back up and what Sans saw left him to be startled. His brother wasn’t crying, he was laughing._

_The test he held firmly in his grip read 56 but Papyrus still gave a huge smile. “I did it, Sans. I got a higher score! Mom and Dad will be so proud of me!”_

_He then continued to laugh, so hard in fact that the math room was filled with his chuckles. Nyeh heh heh!_

_Sans could feel his heart ache deeper in terms of reality, but for now he willed himself to push such feelings out of his mind. His smile returned and he chuckled along with his brother. “Don’t scare me like that, Papyrus.”_

_“Well, I am a master at scaring others.” Papyrus chimed in once his giggles were subsiding._

_Sans shook his head, watching his brother stand up from his seat. Grabbing his arm, Sans pulled Papyrus down to his level and swung his arm over his shoulder. “How about you and me grab some fast-food after school? To celebrate your achievement. I’ll even pay.”_

_“Really?” Papyrus’ eyes lit up, quickly grabbing his backpack as both made their way out of the room. “Can I pick the place too?”_

_“Sure, bro.” Sans closed his eyes in blissful peace. “You deserve it.”_

_“Wowie! Thanks, Sans!” Upon exiting the room Papyrus stood back up and lifted his arms into the air. “Tonight, the Great Papyrus and Sans shall dine on French fries and milkshakes!”_

_Sans couldn’t help but continue laughing, nodding his head. “Alright, you need to get to your next class. I’ll meet you at your car, okay?”_

_“Okay!” With that Papyrus sped off down the halls, waving back to Sans and shouting his thanks in advance._

_Sans just stood outside of the math door and waved as well, trying to stop his chuckles._

_“Hey, Sans!”_

_Sans then turned upon hearing his name from a different voice, watching a few other teenagers walk up to him. They were from the school’s math team, which he was a part of._

_“Hey guys.” Sans started, placing his hands in his pockets. “What brings you to my domain?”_

_One of the guys gave Sans a teasing smile. “Don’t tell me you forgot about our debate tonight with Oysterfield? Or are you that cruel with your humor?”_

_“Oh, that was tonight?” Sans gave a small shrug with an apologetic smile. “Sorry guys, I can’t make it. Papyrus and I are going to go celebrate his success on his algebra test.”_

_The team looked disgusted upon hearing Papyrus’ name, followed by an agreement of ‘what’ ‘oh come on’ ‘Sans, no!’._

_Sans frowned. “Hey, this is a special occasion. You guys don’t need me for the debate.”_

_“Sans, you’re in the top 10% of the whole school.” One of the boys tried reasoning with Sans, gesturing a hand. “You’re like smart concentrated! We won’t stand a chance without you! Can’t you… pick another day with Papyrus?”_

_Sans shook his head, trying to keep his annoyance from showing. “I told you, no. Papyrus is really looking forward to this dinner.”_

_“Yeah well with how his grades are you can do it again next year.” One of the boys muttered, but Sans overheard it._

_Any hints of keeping cool dropped immediately and he pointed an accusing finger at the boy who spoke. “You want to say that again?”_

_The boy however didn’t seem fazed; instead he took a step forward. “Your brother is a failure, Sans. He’s been in that same Algebra two class for two years now. Why do you even hang out with him? He’s nothing but a loser.”_

_“Whoa.” The first boy from before intervened, lightly pushing the other boy back. “Chill, Max.”_

_He looked apologetic to Sans, but didn’t apologize. “What he’s trying to say is that Papyrus… is special. He probably is super nice when you get to know him but… he’s just not good for you.”_

_The rest of the team nodded their heads in agreement. “You ditch us all the time for him and, well, let’s face it. You could be doing a lot more beneficial things if you hung around him less.”_

_Upon hearing such a speech Sans felt an old fire ignite in his stomach, eyebrows furrowed and teeth gritted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_He took a step forward to get near the boy but suddenly found himself immersed in a world of black. Confused and startled, Sans moved backwards and scanned his surrounding, trying to find any source of light. “Papyrus?”_

_The sound of a child crying made Sans spin his body around. He knew that cry anywhere. “Papyrus!”_

_Before him, like watercolors that rippled was a memory, one he had burned inside his mind._

_A banner hung from the ceiling of the dining room in their house, which read, ‘Happy 10th Birthday, Papyrus’ and the table was decorated extravagantly. There were a few presents next to a racecar cake, and just by looking at the party decorations one might have surmised that this was a happy day._

_But it wasn’t._

_He suddenly found himself back as a child, watching the tears fall from Papyrus’ eyes. They were the only two that sat at the table, but he could remember his mother standing in the shadows of the kitchen, having an argument with their father on the phone._

_“Why…” Papyrus sobbed, trying to steady his shaking voice. “Why did no one come? I-I thought I had so many friends…”_

_The way Papyrus cried, how empty the room was. It was on that day that Sans felt his heart grow heavy, and it never grew lighter._

_Sans moved his hand over to Papyrus but suddenly the image vanished before him. He blinked to find tears streaming down his face, back once more inside his teenager body._

_“Sans.” The familiar voice sent chills up Sans’ spine, forcing him to turn around. Before him was a giant with the upper half of its head masked in shadows. A grey, business suit adorned their body, and their skin was bronze much like his. But the frown on the giant’s face, it was one he had come to know all too well._

_Sans took a frightened step back. “Dad?”_

_His father did not respond to his voice, his mouth opening to speak._

_**“I’m doing you a favor.”** _

Eyes darting open, Sans leapt up from laying down into a sitting position, hand grasping his chest. His breathing was eradicate and fearful as he tried to calm down his mind. It was just a dream… but it wasn’t a dream.

“Sans?”

Head turning to the bed, Sans noticed that Papyrus was already up. He leaned on the back wall to the bed, walkman in his hands and the headphones shoved into his ears. But when he saw the fear in Sans eyes he slid his headset down and pressed a button on the walkman to pause it. “Sans, what’s wrong?”

“No-Nothing bro.” Sans physically shook his head as if to shake off the fear and sorrow that plagued his heart and mind, flashing a smile to Papyrus. “Just scared myself a little.”

Papyrus didn’t seem to buy it this time, his lips pursing. “Sans, you know you can talk to me if something’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong, bro.” Sans felt himself get back into the habit of smiling, standing up to stretch from the uncomfortable sleep he had. “If something was wrong I would tell you.”

Papyrus frowned, but didn’t continue the discussion. “Do you think it’s safe to go back outside?”

“I don’t know.” Sans shrugged, grabbing his backpack and resting it on the bed. He plopped himself down and scooted over to where Papyrus sat, opening one of the compartments. 

It wasn’t until now that Sans could feel how empty his stomach had become. Looking back now he wished he had gotten in a few bites of spaghetti. With familiar crinkling, Sans pulled out a bag of chips and opened the top, munching on a few. He talked through his bites. “I can check though.”

“Sans, that’s disgusting!” Papyrus scooted a little aways. “Don’t talk while you eat; you’re getting chips everywhere!” 

“What, you mean like this?” Sans then purposely grabbed a good handful of chips, munching on them and then proceeded to talk. He angled his head right at Papyrus for maximum chip projection. “Because I think that it’s not so bad when you get the hang of it. You just have to chew and chew and chew and-”

“Sans!” Papyrus yelled, holding his hands up to block the bits of chips and turning his head away. 

Sans couldn’t help but laugh through his munching, deciding Papyrus had enough before closing his mouth and swallowing. “You left yourself open.”

“Yeah, well!” Papyrus’ hand soon breached the chip bag, shoving the chips in his mouth and doing the same. “I’m Sans, I love to eat with my mouth open and get it all over my awesome brother because it’s so much fun!”

“Aw ew, Papyrus.” Sans remarked through his laughter, holding his hands up from the incoming chip projectiles. “Didn’t anyone teach you manners?”

“Not you!” Papyrus wanted to be mad, but with Sans laughing he couldn’t help but join in.

The two spat chips all over each other and laughed until the bag was empty.

Needless to say, the rabbit at the counter of the hotel reframed from asking why the two were covered in little freckles of chips. 

Sans wore the biggest grin that his face would allow, while Papyrus gave Sans a teasing smile. “We’re ready to pay.”

“Oh no need.” The rabbit smiled, though it was hard considering the state the two were in. “Someone came in last night and covered your bill.”

This surprised both boys, turning their heads to one another before back to the rabbit man. “Wait, who covered us?”

“Besides yourselves?” The rabbit man let forth a loose chuckle, to which both boys looked to one another with goofy smiles. 

“They said they wanted it to be a surprise.” In drifting to his thoughts, the rabbit man gave a pitiful smile. “That must be nice, having friends who cover your bills.”

As the two left the hotel, Sans was shuffling through his wallet, which was one of the few things he kept on his body. Papyrus still wore his confused gaze. “Sans, I’m confused.”

“Yeah, I’m too.” Sans sifted through the money in his wallet, counting how much he had. “I wonder what the currency exchange rate is…”

“Do you think it was the parrot?” Papyrus asked, going back into his routine of bringing his feet up and over the snow. Already his stick body was shivering once more from the cold.

Sans eyed his brother. “Nah, I don’t think he would help us.” 

He then breathed, watching the vapors of his breath float upwards and away from his face. In pocketing his wallet Sans reached for the Pocket watch, which he now kept safely in his pocket for easy access. He flicked his wrist and pressed the button to open it simultaneously, looking at the time. 

He heard the crunch of snow behind him and knew Papyrus was looking over his shoulder, mostly do to the fact that Papyrus literally did just that. “What time is it?”

“Hmm, almost noon.” Sans closed the watch, staring at the silver lid and the chain that dangled from the clock. “We were up pretty late last night.”

“What do you think Mom is doing?” Papyrus asked, lifting his head back up while Sans started to walk off. Papyrus followed.

“Well, she said she was going to be out of town for the weekend thanks to her job.” Sans remarked, stuffing both of his hands inside his pockets and keeping a leisurely stroll. “So I’m guessing she’s doing her job.”

Papyrus frowned. “I never liked her job; always having to leave or being called in.”

“Well that’s what happens when you work in ER.” Sans’ eyes followed Papyrus and how his taller brother was just a bit faster in his walk. “You don’t get a lot of time to rest.”

“Or hang out with your children.” Papyrus crossed his arms, releasing an irritated huff. “Dad was the same, wasn’t he? Retired military man, now a credible lawyer.”

“Yeah.” Sans kept quiet during the turn of the conversation, instead burying his chin in his T-shirt. 

“You know Sans, this might sound crazy but… it’s always just felt like you and me.” 

Sans removed his chin from his T-shirt, looking up to Papyrus. It was rare to see contemplation on Papyrus’ face. “I mean, sure, Mom and Dad were there for a lot of things. But… they weren’t there like _you_ were.”

Sans felt a sincere smile sprout on his lips. He felt a light blush come to his cheeks, which he scratched at. “Aw, Papyrus. Don’t get sentimental on me.”

“I’m serious!” Papyrus gestured his arms as if he were annoyed, but he could see that Sans had taken the compliment.

Feet crunching through snow, Papyrus couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Guess that means you’ll have to be especially good to me when I come back from boot camp.”

Papyrus continued to chuckle, not realizing that Sans had stopped. His smile had completely vanished, left in its wake were lost eyes and a hopeless frown. The grip he had on his backpack got tighter. “Yeah. Boot camp.”

Papyrus, noticing Sans wasn’t following turned around. He cocked an eyebrow. “Sans, why aren’t you following?”

“Hm?” Sans wasn’t expecting to hear Papyrus so soon, eyes darting side to side for an excuse. He gave a false smile and then gestured his hand to the left. “I was hoping we could explore that shack you found last night.”

Papyrus looked to the side, and true to Sans point the shack laid just a few feet from them.

Papyrus frowned. “I thought you didn’t want to go in there.” 

Sans shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t say that. I said it wasn’t a good place to hide, but we don’t need to hide anymore.”

Making an example Sans made his way over to the shack, lightly pulling on the metal handle of the door. It wouldn’t budge but with a firmer pull the door cracked open. Sans allowed the door to slowly open up with a high creaking noise and then motioned inside. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Papyrus seemed hesitant to walk inside now that the danger level was low, but moved inside anyways when Sans disappeared behind the door. Upon entering the shack the floorboards greeted the two with the sound of creaks and wood moving under their feet. Papyrus lifted his feet up and danced around the room in desperation of finding some planks that didn’t shift under his feet, but Sans was less concerned about that.

The shack was much bigger on the inside than what it eluded to on the outside. The only light came in through the window, but even then the room was still dim and hard to see in. Cobwebs lined every window sill, while a scuttling; black mass was huddled in the corner.

“Erm, I don’t want to investigate anymore.” Papyrus drew back towards the door when he noticed the black mass in the corner. His hand instinctively whipped out his stick, motioning his hand to Sans to get behind him. 

“Sans, Sans!” He whispered, continuing to motion. “Get behind me! I’ll protect you!”

Sans contemplated obeying Papyrus, but his curiosity got the best of him and moved his legs forward. He could plainly hear Papyrus protest and whisper louder to get behind him, but Sans wasn’t one to be so easily scared.

“Hello?” Sans called out, stopping when he was a few feet from the black mass. The dim lighting didn’t help him identify what it was that was shifting around, but what Sans could surmise was that it was a lot of little creatures rather than one.

He could hear the creaking of boards behind him which indicated that Papyrus was moving closer and the movement stopped. The black mass seemed to stay still for a few seconds, before dispersing across the ground and up the wall. Sans soon recognized what it was he was looking at, only to be confirmed when he heard Papyrus screech. “Spiders!!”

Sans hated spiders.

In trying to get away the poor teenager felt his foot get caught by a loose floorboard and slammed into the ground. He landed on his stomach but quickly turned to be on his back, shuffling away in fright. 

He would have gotten to his feet and bolted out of the shack, had it not been for the vibrant pull of violet that started to be unearthed from the mass of spiders. “Huh?” 

Upon close inspection the spiders had been covering something when they moved, keeping their distance just as much as he was. A small, violet box now sat in the room, as if the spiders were waiting for Sans to do something with it.

“Sans? What are you waiting for?” He turned his head to see Papyrus already near the door, urging him to follow. 

He instead got to knees, keeping still as his nerves crawled up his spine. “I… don’t know.”

It was his curiosity again that was holding him back from leaving. He wondered if it would one day be the end of him, but for now something inside of him told him that the spiders weren’t going to eat him for lunch. 

From the mass of cobwebs at the back of the shack came a few more spiders, all carrying white pieces of paper four times their size. They halted when they got onto the ground, holding them up for Sans and Papyrus to read.

**Welcome to Spider Bakery.**

**Spider Donut 50 G.**

**Help Spiders raise enough G for heated car to make it across Snowdin.**

“A spider bakery?” Sans felt his heart jump when he heard the nearby voice, turning his head only to find Papyrus practically near him. When did he get so close?

He seemed less frightened than he was before and both their eyes were pulled to the violet box near the corner of the room. The spiders had opened it to reveal a bunch of unappetizing pastries, which Sans assumed they were trying to keep from freezing as well as themselves. 

“Those… don’t look edible.” Papyrus disgustingly surmised, his face scrunched up from the sight of them. 

Sans however couldn’t get over the fact that these spiders were rather intelligent, even if their pastry skills were lacking. And the prices left Sans with a very empty feeling in his wallet.

“Welp. This is strange.” Papyrus cleared his throat and walked back over to the door. “I’m really glad you stopped me from going in here last night, Sans. Really, really glad.”

Sans kept to his spot however, as if he was contemplating something. Papyrus frowned. “Well, you coming? I think I can safely say we’ve both have had enough spiders for our lifetime.”

“Bro.” Sans slightly angled his body over to Papyrus, his face filled with much grief. “As much as I hate to say this… we can’t leave these spiders here. They’ll die in the cold.”

“What?” Papyrus seemed taken aback by his brother’s statement. “Oh come on, Sans. I’m sure they’ll be fine! I mean look at them!”

He gestured a hand to what both could agree was probably hundreds of spiders, all coming back together to huddle and spread warmth. “We don’t know how long they’ve been here and they seem to be doing great!” 

Sans lost his smile, a frown resting on his face. “It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”

Papyrus scoffed. “Sans, if you haven’t noticed, we’re wanted right now by every monster for our soul! Now is not the time to be heroic or do the right thing! Now is the time to get out of here before the Royal Guard catches us!”

“Not this time, bro.” Sans turned his head back over to the spiders, who still scared him immensely. But the thought of all of them freezing to death pushed that fear far down his body, giving them a warm smile. “Sorry, I don’t have enough money to pay for your donuts. But I do know of a warm place not far from here. I can take you there if you want, and you won’t have to be cold anymore.”

The spiders seemed to like the idea, as they started scuttling close to Sans. They all rushed over to him, which gave the poor teenager a small heart attack.

He pushed himself away, holding his hands up. “Yo-You can ride in your box! I can carry your box of donuts with you in it, so let’s do that instead of climbing all over me!”

The spiders stopped before they could latch onto his knees or other body parts, going back towards their box to scurry in. Sans let out a huge sigh of relief, looking back to check on Papyrus. He leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed in a pouty mood. “Oh come on, bro. You can’t be that heartless.”

“I’m not.” Papyrus spat, giving his brother an annoyed glare. “But have you forgotten we’re on a time-frame? We need to get home before mom returns or dad gets back from his meeting in New York.” 

“We will, I promise.” Sans sprouted a knowing smile, but it diminished when Papyrus still glared at him. 

Sans fingers tensed a little. “I’m doing this Papyrus, with or without you.” 

“Fine, head over to Grillbys then.” Papyrus waved Sans off with his hand as he looked at the snow outside. 

Sans clenched his teeth. “I was thinking more of the Ruins.”

“The Ruins?” Papyrus’ attention was pulled back to Sans, eyebrows raised. “That’s where we started!”

“I won’t be long; it’s not that far of a walk.” Sans tried to reassure his brother that this wasn’t a big deal, but Papyrus had to make it one.

“You’re going to walk all the way back to the Ruins?” Papyrus asked, as if he wouldn’t believe Sans’ words. “You’re going to collapse from exhaustion before then!”

“Why, because I’m fat?” The response was one Papyrus wasn’t anticipating, neither was Sans. His eyes widened for a moment before his brain decided to stick with it, his frown digging deeper into his face. “Or is it because I like to help poor, defenseless creatures and I should stop wasting my time on them and live my life?” 

That last statement left both to pause. Sans couldn’t believe how much anger he was letting slip but it was like his mouth was its own entity. 

“What? N-no… I wasn’t...” Papyrus’ eyes grew innocent, and for a moment Sans knew he had done wrong. 

Before he could apologize though he watched his brother’s eyes harden as he looked away, letting out an irritated huff. “Fine, save the spiders for all I care! It’ll just take another few hours from our journey, no harm there!”

“Glad you’re ok with it.” Sans bitterly replied, turning back to notice the spiders gone. All that was left was the violet box, to which Sans picked up. He struggled for a moment, not anticipating how heavy it would be with all the spiders in it and walked over to the open doorframe. 

He eyed Papyrus as he stepped back out into the snow and he wasn’t following. “Well? You coming?”

“Actually, no.” 

Everything in Sans seemed to stop when he heard Papyrus’ answer, turning back to his brother who just kept leaning on the doorframe. He eyed Sans, then went back to staring at the snow outstretching the horizon. “You’re going to come back this way anyways, so I’m going to save my energy. I might even go and finish that spaghetti you didn’t let me eat.”

Sans gritted his teeth, shoulders hunched as he turned his body away. “Fine then. Stay here, I’ll be back soon.” 

Sans got in a few more steps before he heard Papyrus mutter, “Try not to save every creature you find.”

Sans could feel a burning sensation crawl up his spine, but he willed himself to keep walking. There was no way he was going to blow up on Papyrus, not with this petty of a situation. 

He tried to steady himself with a few good deep breaths, trying to tell his mind that it was Papyrus he was getting mad at, not someone else. But the nerve of him to say such things. 

Sans didn’t know how badly Papyrus’ words had stung until he was well out of Snowdin, walking back through the fresh snow and towards the Ruins. He kept to a leisurely pace as his heavy backpack and the donut box left him having to stop a few times to rest. During one of those moments, Sans couldn’t keep his anger contained any longer.

Defiantly he kicked a small puff of snow, having set down his backpack and the donut box to relieve some of his pent up stress. “I can’t believe he would say that.”

Sans found himself pacing. “’Try not to save every creature you find.’ Are you kidding me? How insensitive could you be?” 

The violet box shuffled before the lid slowly opened, a few spiders poking their heads out to watch Sans kick up some snow. “I get it, we don’t have a lot of time to goof off. I understand that this wasn’t supposed to happen, and I darn know that we’re in danger. But to just abandon people when they’re in trouble?”

Sans shook his head. “As if he knows what I go through for him.” 

The more Sans talked, the more he felt his shoulders slump, the less he stomped and kicked. “Like he knows what people say behind his back… heh, maybe he does and he doesn’t care, but I can’t…. I can’t…”

Sans let out a sigh as if to relieve the sadness washing over him, taking a seat on a nearby rock. He placed his head in his hands, allowing himself to show his sadness. “Like I can talk. It’s my fault we’re down here, the least I could do is get us back home. I wanted to find another world, not Papyrus. He’s probably scared, no, I know he’s scared and just wants to go back to what’s familiar.”

Sans slumped more. “And here I am prolonging his misery…”

The sensations of something crawling up his leg made Sans gasp and scurry backwards. A long, black trail of spiders lead out of the box and over to where he originally sat, as if the spiders had come over to comfort him. Not that Sans wanted the comfort, far from it.

He fell into the snow and kicked at his leg, watching a few spiders fly off and into the snow. His heart was racing and his mouth open, then his mind patched together what the spiders had been trying to do and sat up. He sheepishly looked to the spiders. “Uh, sorry. Not used to the feeling of spiders all over me.”

Sans shuddered at the thought. But seeing the spiders allowed a thought to click in his head. Slowly he got back to his feet, watching the spiders retreat back into the donut box. “No, what I’m doing is right. Papyrus might be upset to be down here, but when we’re gone, who would help little guys like you?”

Sans felt himself regain his smile, as he saw the lid of the box close. “Papyrus has a right to get upset, but I know he’ll get over it. We’re tough like that.”

With firm hands Sans picked up the donut box, giving himself a warm grin. “Now let’s get you spiders somewhere warm.”

As Sans walked back to his backpack, ready to continue his small journey something bright green zipped past his body. Startled Sans dropped the pastry box, unleashing hundreds of spiders on the ground and onto his feet.

Sans gasped and backed up, paying more attention to shaking off the spiders than what crossed his path for the moment. That changed when another green object zipped past his head and made Sans fumble farther backwards. 

Upon steadying himself and knowing the spiders were off did Sans finally see what was attacking him. Two long, brightly glowing arrows had pierced the icy path he walked on, and when turning his head up into the trees he saw another flash of green zip towards him. 

Sans moved to the left to dodge the oncoming arrow, but his big T-shirt was caught by the tip and a small corner was ripped off. 

“Human!!” The call was echoed far into the snowy world, and with it Sans immediately and grimly knew who his attacker was.

The spiders were crawling back into the box just as Sans snatched it up along with his backpack. He ran as fast as his legs would go, panting and feeling the sweat start to stick to his back. But he knew this wasn’t the time to stop or take a break, especially after he heard a loud thud from where he sat followed by a shrill cry. “So you finally decide to show your face again!”

Sans allowed himself to look back for a moment only to see another green arrow coming right for his body. He lunged himself forward and onto the icy ground, bruising his stomach and skidding for a few moments while the arrow whizzed past the air where he once was. 

Sans struggled to get back up, noticing that he was so close to the bridge and beyond it the door to the ruins. If he could just get closer-

A heavy boot on his backpack stopped Sans hopeful thinking before it turned to thoughts of pain as the foot came down harder. Sans let out a cry of agony, struggling to get out of Sagiv’s grip as the Head of the Royal Guard loomed over him.

“So, you thought you could outrun me, human?” The parrot asked, his head turning as his eyes scanned the forest before down at Sans. If beaks could smile, Sans knew he would be grinning. 

“For years now we’ve been waiting for another human to fall down into our realm; but none seemed to venture. We were starting to lose hope that the humans had grown wise and would never come to Mt. Ebott. That was, until you and your brother showed up.”

“What are you implying?” Sans gritted his teeth, looking up at Sagiv with intense anger. His struggles got more fierce but Sagiv only stomped on his backpack to knock the wind out of Sans. 

“It means it would be an honor to kill you and your brother.” Sagiv crouched down, still keeping his foot on Sans but getting closer to eye-level. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? To live down here in isolation, scavenging whatever we can get our hands on from the trash of your world? Do you know how extinct the word ‘weather’ has become, or how we live in you humans shadows?”

Sagiv stood back up, his right arm rising with the long, black bow he held. From his left hand a flash of light appeared and disappeared, leaving behind a long, bright green arrow. 

Sagiv pulled back the string of the bow, the tip of the arrow aimed directly at Sans’ head. “With you and your brother’s soul, we shall have our seven souls and we will break the barrier that sealed us within this hell. Then, King Asgore can plague the human world once more and it’ll be the humans turn to live underground!”

Something inside Sans told him to throw the box of spiders at Sagiv. If he did that, then he would be able to escape and probably hide in the trees until Sagiv left. But as tempting as that plan sounded, Sans wouldn’t throw the box, there had to have been another way to get out of this situation alive.

For a second, Sans cursed himself for not being strong. That he wasn’t fast enough to run away from Sagiv or that his fat wasn’t muscle. If only he had strength, if only he could fight his way through.

Knowing he didn’t have much time to think before Sagiv would shoot an arrow through his skull, Sans let go of the box and shoved one hand inside his pocket. Come on, come on!

“Thanks for the soul.” Sagiv happily stated just as Sans had thrown his wallet up and at the parrot. To his luck the packet of leather soared through the air and smacked Sagiv in the eye, making him stumble back and shoot the arrow.

Sans put his hands on his head in a sad attempt to protect himself, hearing the arrow pierce the ground and thankfully not his skull. When he opened his eyes and sat up, the arrow was just inches away from where he laid. 

By the time Sagiv had regained his eyesight Sans had rushed past the bridge and down the long trail towards the Ruins. Sagiv gave chase, lifting his bow and bringing forth more arrows. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable, human! I promise you’ll see your brother soon from where you’ll be going!”

Sans knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun the guard, even when he was sporting a full suit of armor. In a desperate attempt he threw open the box of donuts, digging his hand into the mass of spiders for one of the donuts. He held back the urge to scream and throw the box, quickly closing it when he had one. “Sorry!”

He then threw the donut back, hoping that it would smack into Sagiv and make him falter. However his aim wasn’t so lucky this time, instead flopping to the ground with a smack. 

Sagiv still stopped however upon noticing it. “Oh, a spider donut.”

Bent over, Sagiv started to nibble at the donut while it was still on the ground, not bothering to pick it up or pursue the chase. Sans was so baffled he nearly stopped, but remember he needed the lead. Well, at least the donut was effective in halting Sagiv. 

That seemed to last only a few moments as he heard Sagiv once more. “Why all the struggling? Do you actually think you can escape me?”

Sagiv scoffed as he pursued Sans, who was now a fair lead ahead. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned forth an orange, glowing arrow, aiming for Sans. “Let’s see how you fair against some magic.”

By the time Sans looked back again he felt something pierce his back. He sucked in a deep breath of air, watching the spiritual arrow exit his body without even so much of a puncture wound. But the feeling was something Sans never wanted to experience again. 

Sans faltered suddenly for his balance, feet not connecting with the ground anymore. In fact, his body was slowly starting to rise off the ground, as if his weight was nonexistent. 

“What the?!” Sans started, his running slowly coming to a halt as his feet was just connecting with the air.

He noticed Sagiv starting to catch up with his green arrows pointed at him. “I feel like getting some practice in with my bow!”

Teeth clenched, Sans moved the box of spiders to his legs and gripped them with his thighs, using his arms in an attempt to swim away. It seemed to be working for the most part as Sans steered his body over to the tall pine trees while also dodging the green arrows that seemed to light up the sky.

“Hold still!” Sagiv yelled, lining up three arrows in his bow before firing them. 

Sans rolled and moved his body so as to not get pierced, finally over by the trees. He grabbed a hold of the top of one, pushing himself forward from tree to tree, still determined to get to the Ruins’ door.

Sagiv noticed this and gave chase. “Thinking of hiding in the Ruins? Not if I get there first!”

“Just leave us alone!” Sans called down, but kept most of his focus on grabbing the trees. If he was off on his pulling he might just drift back out into the middle of the field or go way off course.

“Now why would you think I would do that?” Sagiv sneered, lining up his shot again. This time it was a red arrow. “You’re the reason we’re trapped down here!”

Shot fired, Sans was able to successfully dodge the arrow. However the arrow seemed to curve unlike the other arrows and fire back into him. As the arrow exited his chest Sans felt his body grow heavy again and with it his descent to the ground. 

He smashed into several tree branches before flopping onto the snow, creating a small cloud of snow with his drop. He kept his legs up however in an attempt to not flatten the box in his legs, which remained battered but not destroyed. 

Sans lifted his head from the freezing snow, taking a gasp of air before struggling to get up. He noticed he was close to the door, clutching the box of spiders in his hands as he limped over. 

His foot dragged behind him and everything hurt, but Sans knew he couldn’t abandon his quest when he was so close. His spirits almost lifted when he managed to make it to the door first, with Sagiv close behind. 

Setting down the box, he futilely pulled on the gap of the two doors to open it, but knew he wouldn’t be able to in his current condition and without Papyrus. If only he were here!

Knowing he wouldn’t be able to escape behind the door, Sans lifted the top off of the box, urging the spiders forward. “Go, crawl underneath the door!” 

The spiders responded to Sans voice, making their way out of the box and underneath the door frame. Sans could feel a wave of relief wash over his being, knowing that he had completed his quest.

That was quickly ripped from him when Sagiv hoisted him in the air by his shirt.

Through his brown eyes he was quickly met with black, beady ones. “You gave me quite the chase, human. I applaud your efforts in trying to escape, given your current condition.”

A fist was raised, and Sans soon felt searing pain in his right eye. It closed instinctively after Sagiv had given it quite the shiner, the teenager sucking in a breath of air and refusing to cry in pain. Sagiv clicked his beak. “But now, it is time for the human to meet his e-”

Sans anticipated Sagiv to not finish his sentence and just stab him with one of his arrows, but that wasn’t the case. Sagiv’s eyes seemed to be elsewhere, near the ground. “What the?”

He held Sans aside, watching the last of the spiders leave the donut box and scurry underneath the door. “The spiders from that old shack?”

Sagiv looked to Sans, who felt a nervous smile sprout on his face even when his face hurt like heck. “I-I brought them somewhere warm. So they wouldn’t die.”

“You mean you kidnapped them!” Sagiv narrowed his eyes before lightly shaking Sans.

The poor teen gripped the giant parrot’s hand for stability, his voice shaking just as much as his body. “N-no! I re-really did he-help them!”

Sagiv gave a moment of rest for Sans, where he really felt Sagiv’s eyes bore holes into his already exposed soul. Then after a moment of silence, the parrot dropped Sans and left him to land stomach first. “Why?”

Sans faltered to get up, his muscles straining to work from all of the extraneous exercise he had done. He looked to Sagiv after sitting up, rubbing his right cheek as it was starting to swell. “What?”

Sagiv gave Sans a confused look, as if we thinking things through. He then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what you just did. You are still going to die.”

Pulling out his bow, Sagiv materialized one of his green arrows, to which he aimed directly at Sans. The poor teenager had barely any fight in him, and knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge from this close.

Just before the arrow was released, a single spider crawled back out into the snow and seemed to squeak something insignificant. This got Sagiv and Sans’ attention, with Sagiv making the arrow disappear. “Hm?”

He crouched down to hear the spider better, who squeaked once more while Sagiv just nodded his head. Sans wondered what the spider was saying, but then contemplated running while Sagiv was distracted. No, it was a stupid idea, as if he tried to get away now Sagiv would notice and probably kill him on the spot.

“Hm, I can do that.” Sagiv, having heard enough stood back up. He grabbed the violet box on the ground, then pulled back one door with barely any strength. He set the box down inside the ruins, then picked up the spider and dropped them over the door. “There you go.”

With a smile and a wave Sagiv closed the door, looking back over to Sans. “Sorry about that. The spiders didn’t want to lose their merchandise. Understandable.”

Once more the arrow came back, Sagiv pulling back on his bow. “Now then…” 

Sans didn’t want it to end like this. He didn’t want to die here, with this parrot looming over him ready to end everything. He didn’t want his last words to Papyrus to have been so bitter…

Just when Sans had anticipated the arrow would shoot right through him at any second, the sound of a pager going off alarmed both of them. Sagiv let out an irritable squawk and let the arrow disappear once more, reaching for the pager in his pocket. “What now?”

He trained his beady eyes on the small words that flashed across the screen, and Sans wondered what the text said. He knew it wasn’t good, for soon Sagiv regarded Sans with a click of his beak. “Well, well, it sounds like my Knights have captured your brother.”

The mention of his brother sent chills up Sans’ spine, his left eye widening as much as it could. The cool blues and white of the world started to fade along with his heart.

Sagiv shook his head, then placed his bow behind him with a conventional clip in his armor. “I would kill you now, but I am off to help my knights in securing your brother. You won’t get far in your condition anyways, and I’ll just come back when I’m done to finish the job.”

As if Sagiv held all the cards he then started to strut away, trying to whistle a happy tune but ultimately failing. “I hope you enjoyed what little time you had down here, human. It will be over very quickly.”

Sans felt his body lunge forward, as if to grab Sagiv and stop him from walking off. But his hand barely reached and with it he felt his body fall forward and onto the icy path. 

Struggling, Sans lifted his head and felt his voice rip through his throat. “No, get back here! Papyrus… You won’t hurt him!! I WON’T LET YOU!! PAPYRUS!!!”

Sans felt hot tears resurface once more, teeth clenched as he tried to keep it inside. “Please, I beg of you! Kill me but don’t hurt him!!”

He choked back a sob. “DON’T DO THIS!!”

But Sagiv neither turned around or stopped. Instead he only heard Sagiv’s cheerful laughter before disappearing into the horizon, leaving Sans to freeze.

Muscles shaking, body aching, Sans willed himself to stand and walk, even if he still limped. His mind was going crazy, his breaths heavy and deep but he kept walking, knowing that if he stopped it would be like giving up on his brother. His backpack dragged him down like heavy chains, but Sans ignored the weight and kept going.

It couldn’t end this way… it **wouldn’t** end this way.

Sans didn’t know how long he walked. He didn’t know how cold his body had gotten, or how dead he felt inside. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop, and his determination pulled him through the snowy banks and icy paths like a train.

Salvation came to Sans in the form of the sign announcing Snowdin, where Sans felt the smallest bit of relief come to him. It was barren, like normal, but Sans had to know Papyrus was still there. He had to still be waiting for him at the shack, he **had** to be alright. “Papyrus!”

It hurt to call out Papyrus’ name, but Sans continued to shout it at the top of his lungs, hoping that his brother would arrive soon and relieve him of his worry. He couldn’t be captured, he wouldn’t! “Papyrus! I’m here! I’m back! …Papyrus!!”

Dragging himself over to the shack, Sans expected his brother to still be leaning on the doorframe. He wanted to hear Papyrus shout his name and rush over and worry about his wounds, to which he would calmly play them off with a smile. 

But there was no one at the doorframe. There was no figure inside waiting for him. And there was no Papyrus to see his smile.

Sans felt the world around him slowly start to fade, and with it his heart smashed. He dropped to his knees, giving one last shout. “PAPYRUS!!!”

So cold, so dead did Sans feel. What came next was the feeling of nothingness, and his face hit the floorboards.


	6. Level 5

_“Runners, to the starting line!”_

_Sans felt himself smile as he watched the athletes down on the field get ready for their initial run. This took place at Papyrus’ new middle school, where Sans eagerly watched his brother Papyrus get warmed up for the run._

_“Papyrus, Papyrus over here!” Sans stood up from the other parents and students that came to attend the race, swinging his arms over his head. “Hey, Papyrus!”_

_“Now, Sans.” A worn hand rested itself on his shoulder, and Sans turned to look into the face of his mother._

_Her eyes were tired and worn from a busy week of being called in to deal with emergency patients, but no matter how faint she was she never lost the warmth in her blue eyes. Her long, black hair had been put away into a neat bun, with a few strands of hair curling down in front of her ears. Her coppery skin matched his own. “You don’t want to distract your brother, do you?”_

_Sans lowered his arms but still kept his smile. “Nah.”_

_With a gentle nudge from his mom Sans sat back down, his excitement growing. “But I just know Papyrus will do great, mom!”_

_Sans’ mother gave a soft chuckle back, eyes closing in peace. “I know he will too, sweetie.”_

_She then opened her eyes back up, giving Sans a teasing smile. “It’s because of that monster blood in him that he can run so fast.”_

_Sans furrowed his eyebrows in determination, hands changing to fists. “Yeah! Monster blood!”_

_“Keshika,I thought we talked about this.”_

_Sans felt his fists unclenched when he heard his father’s voice, turning in the direction of where he sat. He took his place a few inches away from the closely sitting Sans and Keshika, with a vanilla envelope in his lap._

_It looked as though he was flipping through documents, but now his focus was on the two of them. His hard, brown eyes cut deep into Sans’ own brown ones, even through the thick-pair of glasses his father wore. While Keshika wore a simple, long dress with various patterns adorned gold and red, Sans’ father chose to stick with a business suit, which was very out of place for a race._

_Sans felt himself place a hand on his mother’s, and with it she faced his father with a frown. “Hush up, Raviath. It’s just harmless play.”_

_“We don’t need to sully Sans’ mind with such childish stories.” Raviath responded coolly, then looked straight at Sans. “He’s a bright kid and shouldn’t waste his time with tales of make-believe.”_

_Sans could feel an electric, tingling sensation crawl up his spine, to which he felt his mother place a protective arm around him. “He’s only eight, Raviath. He still has time to be a child.”_

_Her eyes then went to the open envelope, her frown turning into a scowl. “I thought you said you weren’t going to look at that report during the race. What about your son, Papyrus?”_

_“The race hasn’t started yet, has it?” Raviath gave his wife a dull stare, then went back to looking through the papers. “If you want me to keep providing for the family like I have, I have to go the extra mile at work. Papyrus will do great, I already know it.”_

_Keshika just gave him a disgusted glare, but changed her tune when she noticed Sans clinging to her dress. She picked him up and set him down to the seat opposite of her, bending over to whisper in his ear. “Do not be afraid of your father, he just wants what’s best for you. But please, Sans, don’t grow up as fast as he wants you to.”_

_Sans nodded his head as Keshika lifted herself back up, giving Sans a genuine smile. “You two have monster blood running through your veins, so I know you two can make it in this world. Don’t ever forget your origins, ok?”_

_“Ok mom.” Sans remarked and was soon startled when a whistle was blown. The race had started._

_Sans almost forgot about the talk he had with his mother as he was soon cheering his brother on. Both him and their mother cupped their hands over their mouths, screaming Papyrus’ name as he quickly took the lead and kept it. The determination on his face was something unrivaled, and every step, every lunge of his arms made Sans overflow with pride._

_In mere minutes the race was over, with Papyrus having won the race by almost a lap. Parents went over to their kids as Keshika and Sans got up and raced over to Papyrus, who was just receiving his medal for the win._

_“Papyrus!” Sans cried, running over to his tall brother. He could only hug his leg as he was too short to reach his torso, but Papyrus didn’t care._

_He picked Sans up in his arms, joining his brother for a wide grin. “Sans, look! I did it, I won!”_

_“You won!!” Sans cried out, feeling himself start to laugh with how happy he was. Papyrus hugged his brother extra hard as he shared in the laugh, allowing Sans to hold the medal while their mother hugged them both._

_“I knew you would do it, Papyrus.” Keshika warmly remarked, giving Papyrus a kiss on the forehead._

_“Aw mom.” Papyrus blushed, looking away. “Not in front of the track team!”_

_“Oh, sorry.” Keshika giggled however, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere when she noticed the excitement in Papyrus’ face drain._

_Their father was the last one on the benches, still looking over his notes as if he hadn’t noticed the others leave._

_Sans could feel Keshika’s grip tighten before she looked to her oldest son. “Your father is proud of you too, Papyrus. He just shows it in other ways.”_

_“Yeah, I guess…” Papyrus allowed himself to lament for a moment before regaining his smile. “Anyways, Dad can have all the time to praise me next week on my 10th birthday!”_

_“That’s going to be a big day.” Keshika surmised, filling Papyrus’ head with all sorts of different ideas. “We’ll have to get you a racecar cake, lots of decorations, and all your friends are invited to come and celebrate.”_

_“Yeah!” Papyrus became star-struck just thinking about his party. “I’ll be so popular! Everyone will love me!”_

_He then turned to Sans. “And of course my best little brother is invited too.”_

_“Really?” Sans’ grin grew wider, hugging his brother’s face. “You’re so amazing, Papyrus!”_

_“Mmm, yes, I know.” Papyrus knocked foreheads with Sans, their smiles more intense than the sun. It was so bright, in fact, that the memory Sans felt himself reliving had turned to white, and with it unfamiliar voices and sounds came from the outside world._

“Oh, this was a bad idea! What if Sagiv comes back and notices this?”

“And let him freeze to death? Besides why would Sagiv hurt another monster? That’s just messed up.”

“But dogessa told me that they tried to attack someone like him! What if… he is a human?”

“Please Carrie, humans are way scarier looking than this.”

Slowly the world came back to Sans, and with it was the aching pain of everything hurting. He wondered if he had dreamed everything and was waking back up after falling down the hole with Papyrus, but the first sight of light quickly diminished that thought.

He was sprawled out in what he assumed was a bed, body put under the warm covers and left to rest. 

What he wasn’t expecting were the two young rabbits peering over him, one purple while the other was pink. The pink bunny had a purple bow tied around one of her ears, while the purple bunny had a pink hat nestled in between her ears.

The pink one clasped her hands over her mouth when Sans awoke, as if he startled her. “The human’s awake!”

The purple bunny gave a mean glare to the pink bunny, placing her hands on her hips. “Carrie, that’s rude of you to say!”

Carrie shamefully looked away when the purple bunny scolded her, her hands moving behind her small body. “Sorry, Mary.” 

“What?” It was the first words to come out of Sans’ mouth, but with how raspy his voice was it sounded like it would be his last.

His throat was dry like the Sahara desert, and in trying to clear it out with a few coughs Sans only made his bruised body ache more. He groaned and moved his head to the side, only able to see out of his left eye for the moment.

“Where… where am I?”

“You’re in our room.” Carrie spoke, though her voice was softer than when he had originally woken up to it. She still kept her hands behind her body, swaying ever so slightly. “Pa doesn’t know you’re here though. He would probably make you pay if he saw you in bed.”

“I hope not.” Marry seemed appalled by the idea. “Charging a poor monster just to rest? Why, if Pa did that I would give him a thing or two about being nice!”

Sans however still wasn’t fully awake with his mind quickly trying to catch up with everything that had happened before. The chip battle with Papyrus, finding the spiders, the fight, Sagiv…

It was at this moment that Sans completely woke, his brother flashing through his mind. “Papyrus!”

Sans moved to leave the bed, but his body locked up from the pain of everything and instead he fell out and onto the ground. He hissed when he landed on his stomach, tears starting to form from how badly everything hurt. 

He tried to brace through the pain however, even when the two bunny girls had rushed over and insisted he get back into bed. “I have to find him… they’ll kill him if I don’t!”  
“Kill?” Carrie flinched to hear such a hostile word, even Mary seemed surprised. 

She watched Sans futilely attempt to crawl out of the room, but at the pace he was going he wasn’t saving anyone anytime soon. “Hey, y-you need to rest! You’ll die if you go back outside!”

“I have to risk it.” Sans said through gritted teeth, taking deep breaths through all the pain. “I can’t… wait any longer. Too much time… wasted.”

“This is bad, this is really bad.” Carrie hopped from one foot to another. “Maybe we should get Pa.”

“We can do this, Carrie!” Mary’s tone inflicted, then she pointed to Carrie. “Grab me a cinnabunny from the shop, now!”

“R-Right!” Having her orders, Carrie hopped out of the room, closing the door gently behind her.

With Carrie gone, Mary decided to sit on the ground just a few inches away from Sans. He looked at her through his good eye, eyebrow furrowed. “You can’t stop me.”

“I’m not.” Mary innocently responded. There was concern lining her features. “Could you tell me what’s up? If this Papyrus is in danger, then maybe we could ask the neighbors and-”

“No.” Sans bitterly replied, which threw Mary off guard. 

He shook his head. “That would take… too much time. I’ve wasted… enough.”

Mary gave Sans a hard look as he continued to crawl his way through the room, his body ultimately failing him as it wouldn’t move anymore. Sans cursed underneath his breath.

“Here’s the cinnabunny!” Mary’s ears shot up upon hearing the door open with Carrie rushing back in.

Mary turned to her sister with quick irritation. “Carrie! Stop yelling, Pa will hear you!”

“Oh!” Carrie shut the door behind her, ears drooping as she whispered. “Sorry.”

She lightly stepped back over to where Mary sat, who snatched the cinnamon bun out of her hands. She started to offer it to Sans. “Here.”

Sans looked to the food-item, his hand shaking as he reached up for it.

Just as he was about to touch it Mary quickly pulled away, standing up on her two paws. “But you can only have it if you let us help you find your brother!”

“What?” Carrie turned to her sister in shock, hands close to her chest. “Mary!”

“I told you, no.” Sans replied, his hand still in the air for the warm pastry. “I can’t waste time.”

“Well I’m glad we’re coming then. We can help you find your brother faster.” Mary seemed determined in her position, and kept the pastry far above Sans’ head.

He looked away in irritation before relieving himself with a huge sigh, willing himself to relax. “Alright. You win. Hand me the pastry and I’ll let you two join me.”

“Mary, I don’t want to go though!” Carrie whined, but Mary seemed delighted to hear Sans’ compliance.

She got down on her knees and handed Sans the Cinnamon bun. “It’s a deal.” 

Sans took the warm pastry before Mary could reconsider, propping himself up to lean on the side of the bed. Taking the first bite, Sans already could feel some of his aches slowly melt away, to which he was surprised to.

“Mary!”

“Come on, Carrie!”

Sans didn’t turn his head until he heard the door close, noticing that the two bunny sisters were gone. He blinked with his good eye, then found himself lightly chuckling. He didn’t know if it was out of sheer nervousness for his brother, or the fact that Mary and Carrie were just a riot with one another.

What Sans did surmise as he sat there, allowing himself to heal and eat was that he wouldn’t be able to find Papyrus if he was in a fit of rage. He needed help in this foreign world, something he didn’t think he needed a few minutes ago.

He was glad Mary was a stubborn bunny.

Half-way done with his treat and swallowing a piece, Sans reached for one of the canteens on his backpack, which was thankfully near the bed, and unclipped it. He was thankful they had survived as long as they did; taking a swig of the cool water inside to down what little pastry was left in his throat.

A he cleared his mouth from the excess water, Sans eyed his backpack dangerously. He reattached the canteen and dug through the main pocket of the backpack, his hand grasping what he was looking for. 

His hand withdrew, and with it was a hunter’s knife with its scabbard still attached. A gift from his father when he was younger and when their family used to go on camping trips. Papyrus loved those so.

Having fond memories, Sans felt a crack trickle up his lips and produce a smile. He was taught many things with this knife, but now he hoped he remembered how to use it for its main purpose and he quietly stashed it away in his pant pocket.

By the time Sans was done eating the two girls came back into their room. They were dressed in winter jackets, skirts, long socks, snow boots and mittens in their respective colors for the journey outside.

“How are you feeling?” Mary asked, to which Sans showed his response by standing up. 

He still ached from certain spots but the fact that he could stand was really the reason Sans found himself grinning. His black eye though was still present. “Better than before. Thanks, kid.”

Mary closed her eyes and gave a grin back. “Heh, you’re welcome! Helping people makes me smile!”

“Um…” Sans and Mary’s attention turned to Carrie, who used the fluffiness of her winter jacket to hide most of her face in. “Do you have… a jacket?”

“Hm?” Sans had to crouch down to hear Carrie speak again. When he understood what she said he stood back up. “Oh no, don’t have one. That’s ok though.”

“What?” Mary seemed alarmed by this news, looking to Carrie. “We can’t let him go out like that! He’ll catch a cold!”

“I-I got it!” Carrie scrambled back out the door, to which Mary breathed.

“I’m glad she caught that, I didn’t even think about it. Since we’re bunnies and all.”

Sans felt himself chuckle again, glad to have his old smile and laughter back. But he could feel the urge to run and find Papyrus itching up his back and was relieved when Carrie came back not too soon afterwards.

She carried with her a big, blue jacket, to which she held up for Sans to take. “This is Pa’s old jacket. You can have it to keep yourself warm.”

Sans took the jacket, feeling the soft fabric in his hands and how rich the blue was. There were a few dark stains and a tear at the bottom left corner, but the jacket looked to be fine. He looked back to the two bunnies after inspecting it. “I can keep this?”

“Pa has a new jacket, so I’m sure he’d be fine with you having it.” Mary chimed in, then urged Sans with her hands. “Now hurry and put it on so we can find Papyrus!”

Sans complied and slipped the jacket on. It was a little tight, so he wouldn’t be able to zip it up, but it was long enough to cover his arms and fit snugly in the back. 

He then looked to both bunnies. “How do I look?”

“Blue is a good color on you.” Carrie was the first one to speak, even giving Sans a little friendly smile.

He smiled back. “I don’t know what to say.”

He grinned. “Well, ok, I can think of something. Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mary gave a reassuring wink before hopping over and grabbing one of Sans’ hands. “Now come on! It’s time to solve this mystery!”

“Heh, alright.” Sans reached for his backpack, then exited the room with the two little girls, following them down the stairs and out to the main room.

The father of the two seemed to smile when he noticed them hop down the stairs, then acknowledged Sans. “So, is our patient feeling better?”

“Pa!” Mary whined as she stopped. She turned to face her father. “You’re not supposed to know we brought the monster in!”

“Oh! Right.” The father’s face seemed more animated at the moment as he proceeded to cover his eyes and look away. “Hum de dum. Gee, I hope my daughters aren’t keeping any monsters in their room that are injured. I might just have to charge them rent.”

Both bunnies started to giggle as their father continued to prattle on. They turned to one another and hushed the other through their grins, tugging on Sans’ hands. “Come on! Before Pa sees us!”

Sans decided to walk out with the two girls, though before he left he noticed the father dropping his hands. He gave Sans a warm, safe smile and waved him off just as the door closed.

“Phew, that was close!” Mary announced when they had walked outside. Sans took a moment to notice that the snow looked brand-new, as if a blizzard had blown in and wiped the world clean.

In fact, it was at this moment of crisis that Sans really had a minute to look at the small town. It was rural with cottages planted in between pine trees and little establishments built in a neat row. There was Grillbys, which he recognized from last night, but also a library down farther misspelled as ‘Librarby’ and even farther than that Sans could see the old shack where this all started.

But it was the tree in the middle of the town that really caught Sans’ attention. It was decorated with ornaments and strings of what he could assume was popcorn and a few spare presents laid underneath. Did they, too, celebrate Christmas?

“So where should we start?” 

Sans looked down to see Mary and Carrie near his legs. Little puffs of white air exited their wet noses, with Mary keeping her arms out while Carrie held hers behind her back. 

He blinked with his left eye, head glancing to the right and where the long bridge waited. “Well, I left that way to the Ruins. I didn’t see Papyrus when I came back.”

“So he must have gone to the left!” Mary felt proud in her deduction skills as she pointed a fuzzy finger to the west. 

She then grabbed Carrie’s hand, running forward as Carrie stumbled to keep up. “Mary!”

Sans walked behind them, feeling a small chuckle escape his lips. Did him and Papyrus act like that when they were children? “So, quick question. If the Royal Guard caught someone, where would they put them?”

“The Royal Guard?” Mary stopped and turned to Sans, to which Carrie hid behind her sister. Mary placed a hand on her chin. “Hmm, I don’t know!”

She then turned her head to Carrie, who stepped away. “Carrie? Do you know?”

Carrie blushed, her eyes locked on her sister before darting to Sans and back. She shook her head. 

Sans would have taken her answer but Mary seemed to know more, crossing her arms. “Carrie!”

“I don’t know!” Carrie whined, burying her face even more in her winter jacket.

“You’re lying!” Mary shouted, her face turning slightly red as she stomped over to her sister. “We’re on a quest, so don’t lie!”

“I’m not lying!” Carrie clenched her little hands, her face getting just as red as her sister’s. “And if I did, Pa told us not to leave Snowdin!”

“Pa doesn’t know about this!” Mary retorted, and Sans felt himself caught in the middle of a sibling spat. 

He scratched his cheek as it to relieve the awkward situation; however something in the distance caught the poor human off guard. 

It was distant, but Sans only knew three monsters that were dressed all in black. And the way they walked told him they were serious about something.

“You always do this, Carrie!” Mary yelled, though her anger seemed to flee with Sans when he bolted past the girls. They stopped their argument and watched him run as best as he could through the bank of snow and behind Grillbys, where he huddled down and took off his backpack.

“Sir?” Carrie asked softly, but their attention turned to the Royal Guard approaching. Sans didn’t dare to turn his head and look for them, but he could hear their conversation the closer they came.

“Honest, Sir! We’re not lying!”

“Oh, so you want me to believe that the pager malfunctioned and sent me a message saying you caught the human when you didn’t?” Sans knew Sagiv’s voice anywhere now, but his words left him dazed on what he was talking about.

“Yes, that’s exactly what happened!”

“Pager’s don’t malfunction like that! Now stop lying or it’ll be extra training tonight! Just admit you lost him!”

“But we never saw him!”

Sans left eye widened as best as it could, as if his heart had gone on a diet and lost several pounds. So Papyrus wasn’t captured?

“Oh, hello there.” Sans clenched his teeth when Sagiv’s voice was close and the sound of snow crunching stopped.

Sans took a risk and poked his head out, noticing that Sagiv had stopped near Mary and Carrie. They stood near one another as Sagiv had bent over to look at the two girls better.  
He clicked his beak. “Are you two playing outside?”

Carrie nodded her head, moving behind her sister who kept her stance. Sagiv laughed. “Oh, don’t be afraid little one. If you heard about the humans in town, I’ll make sure they don’t attack you on my word as the Head of the Royal Guard.”

Mary checked on her sister, who still kept herself hidden behind her body. She then puffed out her cheeks. “Excuse me, Mr. Sagiv. Where do bad monsters go when you capture them?”

“Where do they go?” Sagiv cocked his head. “Why, did you two do something bad?”

It was a simple joke, but neither girl laughed. Sagiv clicked his beak. “They are taken to King Asgore’s dungeon, where they are judged and sentenced.”

Mary nodded her head as if to say she understood. “So, all the way in Hotland?”

“That is correct.” Sagiv stood back up. “Perhaps your father can take you to the castle someday. His majesty so loves guests.”

“King Fluffybuns.” It was Carrie who softly spoke, her usual frown blossoming into a lovely smile. She lightly giggled to her words, to which Sagiv joined in. 

“Yes, King Fluffybuns.” He then regarded his men with irritation, motioning his head forward before back at the girls. “Anyways, we were just passing through. If you find a human, please do not approach them. Go back home and we shall take care of them, ok?”

Mary nodded her head, but her eyes were trained on where Sans hid. “Got it. Thank you, Mr. Sagiv.”

He gave them a simple wave. “Have a fun time in the snow.” Motioning with a hand, the three guards took off once more and over to the long bridge. Sans figured Sagiv was going back for him, which made him all the happier he pushed himself as hard as he did earlier.

“Hey.” Sans didn’t realize the two girls had approached until they were right up in his personal space, startling him a bit. “Why did you hide?”

Sans didn’t give them a direct answer at first, instead standing up and brushing the sticking snow off of his new jacket and pants. He stuck his hands in the front pockets of the jacket. He considered being honest, but he already scared the girls once. He didn’t want to do that again. “Just felt like sitting down, that’s all.”

Mary puffed her cheeks. “You’re lying.”

“Mary.” Carrie lightly whispered to her sister, as if she knew he was lying but didn’t care. “I don’t like this. Can we please go home?”

“Come on, Carrie, we just started!” Marry reassured her sister with a flashy smile, but Carrie just gave her a sour frown back while her ears drooped. 

She turned her attention back to Sans. “We just have to go to King Asgore’s castle and we’ll find your brother there!”

“Something tells me he’s not there.” Sans couldn’t be happier to feel his usual smile find itself back on his face. Words could not describe how relieved he was, knowing that Papyrus wasn’t caught. But then the bigger question was still unanswered on just where his brother was.

Upon looking at the wall in front of him Sans felt a thought come to him. He strolled out from behind the building and into Grillbys with the two girls behind him and their nonstop questions on where he was going.

“Oh, we’re getting food?” Mary’s eyes seemed to grow as she looked at the some-what empty innards of the bar. She eagerly hopped over to one of the booths, where Carrie quickly followed her. 

She tried hoisting herself up into the seat where her sister sat but Mary merely shoved her face down. “Carrie! Go sit on the other side!”

“But I want to sit with you, Mary! Ow!”

“No, you have to sit on the other side!”

As the two girls fought Sans felt his feet move him over to the bar, where a certain fire-lady from before was cleaning what appeared to be the same cup from last night.

She acknowledged Sans with a nod of her head when he came close. “I thought you ran away.”

Sans gave her a cheesy grin. “It’s hard to keep a fat boy away from food.”

His grin got bigger when he heard the fire-lady giggle, whose sound resembled little puffs on open flames. “What can I do you for?”

“Actually, I’m here to see if anyone came in.” Sans took another look around the bar, a little disheartened to find that Papyrus wasn’t inside. “I’m looking for my brother. Has he come in here?”

“I haven’t seen him.” This made Sans mood drop even more, wondering now where his brother might have gone. If he didn’t come here, then where could he be?

“However, I was instructed by someone to give you this.” Sans’ attention was gained when the fire-lady pointed to a piece of paper on the other side of the bar.

He gave her a questionable stare when she didn’t go to retrieve it. Instead she held up her hand. “It would be bad if I touched it.”

“Oh. Right.” Sans felt a bit silly for thinking she would have given it to him. He walked over to the little slip of paper and wondered who might have left him a note. After reading it he only got more confused and worried.

_Head to Waterfall._

_He will be waiting there._

He? Did the note mean Papyrus? Or was it something else?

Sans felt a pit in his stomach that perhaps this was a trap set by Sagiv. That maybe the old parrot thought ahead on if he survived and planted this then threw him off that his brother wasn’t captured. Thinking about it Sans came to the conclusion that he was probably over thinking things, stuffing the note in his pocket and regarding the fire-lady. “Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime. You stay safe.” The fire-lady then resumed her cleaning, allowing Sans to walk back over to the front door of the bar.

Mary and Carrie were still pushing each other over who sat where when they noticed Sans leaving without them. “Hey!”

“Hm?” Sans had almost forgotten the two bunnies were accompanying him. He turned to notice they stopped fighting, with Mary more confused for the both of them.

“Where are you going? We’re a team, remember!”

“I knew that.” Sans checked the note again, perhaps these two girls could point him in the right direction. “Do you know where a waterfall is?”

“Waterfall?” Mary’s face seemed to light up. “That’s right near Snowdin! It’s just a simple hop to the west!”

“Mary.” Carrie resumed her usual whining, but Mary gave her a scolding look back. 

She turned to Sans, invested once more in the adventure. “We’ll go together! I’m sure we’ll find your brother there!”

“I hope so.” Sans watched as Mary scrambled out from where she sat, dashing for the door as Carrie whined after her. He could only shake his head and follow suit.


	7. Level 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter and the next were one big chapter, but I broke it into two to make it more manageable.

“Splish, splash! Splish, splash!!”

“Mary!! Stop splashing me!” 

Carrie held her hand ups in defense as Mary jumped in every puddle she found, giggling through her breaths. 

Both sisters trailed far beyond where Sans walked, who was mostly taking in the sights around him than walking as fast as he should. In exiting a blanket of white he now found himself in a world of stone and water; where a river snaked by his side and endless waterfalls rained from the heavens. Truly the world of the monsters was something to behold, Sans thought to himself.

Because the snow was far behind him he felt no need to be as bundled as he was. But Sans stopped himself from taking off the blue jacket, having become fond of its comfort and snug sleeves. The bunnies however had gone ahead and tied the sleeves of their jackets around their waist; showing off their matching, stripped yellow dresses with short sleeves. 

In retaliation to her sister’s constant splashing, Carrie reached her hands out to a nearby waterfall and threw the water on her sister. “Take that!”

“Hey!” Mary turned red in the face out of embarrassment as she heard her sister giggle. She shook her head to get some of the water out of her fur before shoving her way over to the waterfall, throwing water back at Carrie. “Take that! And that!”

Soon the only sounds echoing were the joyful laughter of two young monsters. Sans felt a twinge of happiness swell inside his heart to see such merry play. That soon diminished when their laughter transformed into Papyrus’ signature laugh in his head, reminding Sans of what his top priority was for the moment.

He gained a brisk walk before passing the girls. “Come on.”

“Aw.” Mary frowned, having drenched herself in water as was Carrie. She tugged on her sister to follow when Sans showed no signs of stopping. 

“So mister, where do you live?” It was a simple question to Mary, like asking if one knew their name. She shook her body to dry herself from all the water she picked up, hearing Carrie whine behind her about getting her even more soaked. 

Sans glanced at Mary behind him for a moment, now starting to pay attention to the road before him. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, maybe your brother is at your house.” Mary locked eyes with her sister. “Carrie always come home whenever she falls in the snow.”

“Mary!” Carrie grew upset with her sister, which Sans was starting to notice was a popular trend. “Don’t tell him that! You’re so mean!”

“It’s true though!” Mary found herself getting just as upset with Carrie as she was with her, and Sans could only shake his head and press forward.

Just then the three came to a little square of extra land before the trail continued onward. It seemed to be barren, to which Mary decided to speak up. “Mr. Sagiv talks all the time about putting a sentry here. But since a human hasn’t fallen for awhile no one wants to do the job.”

Sans was really happy Sagiv didn’t have a sentry here.

Mary idly looked up to Sans. “Oh! Have you seen the two humans yet? They came to Snowdin apparently!”

Carrie’s eyes darted away from Sans as she stepped behind her sister and Sans got the feeling that Carrie was smarter than she looked. He decided to keep up his charade however while leading the girls back into following him. “No, I haven’t seen them. Have you?”

“Nope! Pa won’t let us near them.” Mary seemed bummed when she spoke, her head hanging slightly downward as she kicked a puddle. “He says humans are dangerous because of how strong their souls are, but I think if us monsters tried really hard, we could beat them.”

“Is there a difference?” Sans became intrigued with the conversation they were having, noticing the tunnel they were following get darker. In response to this, Carrie took Mary’s hand as she walked behind her.

Mary opened her mouth to speak, but both were surprised when Carrie spoke up. “Human souls can live on even when a human dies. Humans are more capable of keeping their physical form then we are, that’s why a human body can still keep its form even when their dead. Monster souls only disappear when a monster dies, and our bodies turn to dust because we aren’t strong enough to keep our physical forms.”

“Carrie!” Mary seemed surprised to hear her sister know so much, even Sans was a little baffled. “Where did you learn all that?”

“At the librarby.” Carrie smiled now when she spoke, as if this was her favorite thing to talk about. “They have a lot of neat books in there about human souls.”

“I still believe we could defeat a human.” Mary revoked, though she didn’t doubt her sister’s words. “We already have five souls. If we can find two more, then the barrier will be broken!”

“Barrier?” Sans sounded confused at first, raking his brain for an answer he knew he had. Soon though his eye widened. “Oh, you mean the barrier that seals the monsters within this mountain, right?”

Mary nodded her head almost too excitedly. “Yup! King Asgore-”

“King Fluffybuns.” Carrie added with a light giggle.

Mary giggled back. “King Fluffybuns says that seven human souls can break the barrier and let us all out. See, Pa told me that anything can get in the barrier, but nothing can get out unless it’s broken.”

“Oh, I see.” Sans felt himself scratch at his cheek, the thought of trying to tell Papyrus that was almost frightening in itself. He could see the hysteria now. “So… nothing can escape?”

“Pa told me that a powerful human soul can escape.” It was Carrie who spoke again, moving herself out of her sister’s shadow but still following behind. “But no human has ever reached the barrier.”

“The Royal Guard or King Fluffybuns stops them before they can escape.” Mary added with a smile Sans didn’t think was needed. “I don’t think they knew where the barrier was!”

“Isn’t it all around us?” Sans started to question how much these children knew, but the more information he could have the better.

“Well yeah.” Mary stuck her tongue out. “But the only tunnel through the barrier and to the surface is through King Fluffybuns’ castle. I’ve actually seen it once! It makes this weird noise like, ‘shoooo!’”

Mary then proceeded to show off the sound effect, her mouth making an O as she moved her arms out to her side. Carrie only giggled. 

“Heh, sounds fun.” But while Sans smiled for the girls he made sure to remember what they were saying so he could relay the information to Papyrus later. Thinking of his older brother made Sans irritated to know they hadn’t run into him yet, with his thoughts of this all being a trap slowly starting to be confirmed in his mind.

After passing a rushing waterfall the three soon found themselves at a small gap where a river ran through the area. Budding flowers were nestled together in the corner, and a bridge was not in sight for them to cross.

Sans frowned, knowing the gap was too big for him to jump across. Where was Papyrus though? Wasn’t this a dead end?

He sighed, perhaps they had missed a room. “Guess we need to-”

However before he could finish he heard Mary and Carrie start to giggle. It was then that he noticed they weren’t near his feet and instead were dancing around one another, arms hooked together while they spun in an innocent circle. Two of the giant buds rested on their heads.

Mary stopped and looked to Sans, wilding gesturing her arms over. “Don’t just stand there! Come and join us!”

Sans was a bit confused when Mary let go of her sister, grabbing one of San’s hands and tugging on it. “Come on, come on! You’re missing out on the fun!”

“Alright, alright.” Sans walked over to where Mary and Carrie were once dancing, noticing that Carrie had another bud in her hands. She gave the bud to Sans, who took it hesitantly.

His left eye looked down at the two of them for an answer, to which Mary pointed repeatedly at her head and nodding. Sans shrugged and figured, ‘why not’ and set the bud on his head.

Surprisingly the bud didn’t fall off like he thought it would, nor was it really heavy. Mary and Carrie grabbed one of Sans’ hands in each before twirling and circling around him, with Sans having to turn with them so they wouldn’t have to let go.

_Ring around the flowers,_

_Everlasting showers,_

_Dust fields, dust fields,_

_We all run away!_

Mary and Carrie sung in a shouting voice as they circled Sans, eyes closed in happiness as they kept repeating the short yet haunting song. Sans wondered if this was supposed to be a children’s song, but after he thought upon the lyrics for a bit he shuddered and thought not.

“Sing with us!” Sans looked down as Mary kept twirling about him, with giggles caught in her throat. “Come on, sing with us!”

“Er, that’s ok.” Sans responded, to which he got a small whine from Mary.

“But you have to!”

Sans eye looked off into the distance. “Maybe later.” 

“Aw.” Mary let go of Sans’ hand, puffing her cheeks out as if to stomp her foot on the ground as well. 

With the dance done, Carrie decided to walk over to where the gap was that stopped them from proceeding earlier. Sans noticed as she got to her knees, gently tugging on the bud on her head and setting it down in the water.

Naturally the bud should have floated away down the stream, but instead it floated across the gap and ran into the other side, where it promptly stayed.

Sans cocked an eyebrow, but decided to follow what Carrie had done. He walked over to the gap, placing his bud down and watching it collide into the other flower but stay there. By this time Carrie had brought over the last one in the ground, setting it down as it floated over to the others.

Just one more and they would have made a small line across the water.

Carrie eyed Mary, who held her bud fiercely. “No! Not until Mister Monster sings!”

“Mary.” Carrie lightly stepped over to where Mary stood, who quickly darted away. 

“I said no!”

“Mary!”

Soon the two girls were chasing one another, with Carrie trying to grab the bud as Mary kept shouting no. Sans got back to his feet just as Mary had run over and behind him, sticking her tongue out at Carrie. 

Carrie stomped her foot into the ground. “You’re so mean, Mary!”

“Hey.” Sans raised his hands as if to bring calmness to the hectic scene. He turned his head behind him to where Mary hid, giving her a soft smile. “I’ll sing for you later, ok?”

“Promise?” Mary puffed her cheeks out, her small body lightly wiggling as she was preparing to bolt if Sans tried to take the bud.

Sans sighed, knowing he would regret this later. “Promise.”

The simple word was all it took for Mary to let her anger go. She gave Sans a happy grin. “Ok!”

She then turned around and to the line of buds, where she happily placed hers. Sans wondered why they had done this to begin with, until the buds started to shake and shift before blossoming into giant flowers.

Sans blinked, not expecting such a thing to happen just as Carrie and Mary rushed over to the flowers. Sans’ body hitched and he threw his hand out to catch them so that they didn’t fall through the flowers and into the deep water, but was surprised when they ran onto the flowers and over to the other side.

Not once did the flowers falter.

“Hey, what are you waiting for?” 

Sans stared at Mary and Carrie, who waited for him on the other side. Sans then hesitantly peered down at the flowers before him, lightly pressing his weight with his foot onto the first one.

When it didn’t look like Sans was coming Carrie walked on back over, taking his hand and lightly tugging on it. “It’s ok.”

Her soft smile told Sans that it was going to be alright, and in trusting her he stepped onto the first flower.

A feeling of awe and shock washed over Sans when the flower held him, as if he were stepping on solid stone then a measly flower earlier. Carrie continued to tug on him as she led him over the flowers and to the other side, where Mary waited eagerly. “Come on, you two! Let’s keep going!”

Mary rushed off just as the two had made it over, which surprised Carrie into running after her. “Mary, wait up!”

Sans watched the two children run after each other, but took a moment to look back at the flowers. He felt… giddy, and with a chuckle he soon found himself running after the girls too. “Hey, don’t forget me!”

The next area was the same, with the three of them having to figure out where the flowers were supposed to line up in order for them to continue. Whenever they got it wrong Mary would always ring a bell attached to a wall, which brought the buds back. But eventually they figured out the pattern and continued on their way, entering a new area that was darker than the last and littered with small patches of grass that wasn’t fully grown.

While Sans was having a fun time with the girls, he could still feel his fear for his brother crawling up his spine like an inchworm, completely ignoring what the girls were doing and saying at this point in time.

He was snapped from his worrying when Mary gasped. “Oh my goodness!”

She bounded ahead while pulling Carrie through a door frame carved out of stone. Sans followed behind into the darkness as the dim light behind him disappeared for glowing lights.

Sans felt his feet plant firmly into the ground as he stared up at the black ‘sky’, greeted by a million soft, blue lights. They twinkled and glimmered as if invisible light was shining on them here and there, and on the ground blue, glowing flowers littered the stone and gave a soft glow to the room.

Eyes darting around, Sans soon found a small telescope out in the distance, idly sitting there with no owner. A memory flashed inside Sans’ mind, but as quickly as it appeared it all but disappeared before he could really reflect on it.

His attention turned to Mary and Carrie who seemed pleased to have come to this part of Waterfall, as they stood farther away and pointed to the ceiling. Mary shook Carrie’s shoulder, bouncing up and down in her spot. “Come on sis! Make a wish!”

“Ok!” Hands clasped together, Carrie smiled when she softly spoke. “I wish my sister and I would see the real stars someday.”

“Carrie, don’t say it aloud!” Mary lightly shoved her sister, who whimpered. “If you say it aloud it won’t come true!”

She then clasped her own hands together, looking eagerly at the lights. “I wish to run around on soft grass and feel the sun on my fur!”

“Mary, you can’t say it aloud!” Carrie threw her sister’s words right back at her, but she didn’t seem fazed as she only winked back.

Sans watched the two girls shove each other while they started another bickering session, but Sans wasn’t focused on it. His eye drifted upwards again, and with it his heart grew heavy. They wished on glittering rocks, and their sky was nothing but the walls of a mountain.

An eternal night.

“What do you wish for?” Sans was caught off guard when he heard Mary’s voice, looking down to notice the two girls near him.

They seemed to be waiting for him to say or do something, to which he mimicked them and put his hands together. He closed his eye, thinking for a moment on what to say. “I wish….”

Cracking his left eye open, Sans grinned. “For a super deluxe hot dog.”

“Hey!” Sans opened his eye fully when he felt both Carrie and Mary lightly shove him. Mary talked through her giggles. “You can’t say it aloud! It won’t come true!”

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle along, his hands instinctively going back to the jacket pockets. “How do you know I didn’t wish for something in my head?”

“Did you?” Mary seemed intrigued now, as if the notion never occurred to her. Her hands flopped to her side as she hopped up and down. “Well? What did you think? Tell me!”

“Heh, it won’t come true if I tell you.” Sans remarked, then took off to find a way to continue onward.

Mary puffed her cheeks out as Carrie giggled at her sister. “Hey! I won’t tell anyone!”

“Sorry, kid.” Sans replied, even when he felt Mary grab onto his arm and hoist herself up his body. She climbed her way up his backpack and rested her arms and upper half of her body on his head, peering down at him.

“Pleeeease?” Mary whined, her lips protruding without the need of Pringles. 

Sans laughed again. “Nope, sorry. But tell you what, I’ll tell you if you find my brother before me.”

Mary’s mind seemed to buzz as her eyebrows furrowed and she gave Sans a determined smile. “Alright, I will! I’ll find your brother before you and then you’ll have to tell me!”

She then patted San’s short, black hair, pointing before him. “Now move!”

Sans laughed. “What, am I your transportation now?”

“I’m tired of walking.” Mary whined, patting his hair again. “And I’m not leaving! So let’s go!”

“Alright, alright.” Sans was about to start walking again but then he noticed Carrie in front him. She was pulling on his big T-shirt, trying to hoist herself up but utterly failing.

Sans decided to help and scooped the little bunny into his arms, where she promptly gasped and hid her face from Sans. “Hey, it’s ok. I won’t hurt you.”

Carrie poked one of her eyes out from her fingers to see Sans give her a safe smile, and that was all it took for her to drop her hands and get comfortable in his arms.

He smiled as they continued onward.

As he started walking though his leg brushed up against one of the glowing flowers; his voice suddenly coming from an external source. “Hey, it’s ok. I won’t hurt you.”

Sans jerked back when he heard his own voice, to which Mary looked down at him in confusion. “It’s just an echo flower, silly. They mimic whatever sound they hear.”

As if to demonstrate she hopped down from her spot on San’s head; rushing over to the same flower. Sans watched her touch the flower and he soon heard her voice come from within the flower. “They mimic whatever sound they hear.”

“See?” Mary said, then touched the flower again as it repeated the word.

“Huh. That’s… really cool.” Sans head soon turned to look at all the other flowers in the room, wondering just what messages they held within their petals.

He would have found a place to sit and write this down, maybe even sketch a few pictures, but Sans stopped himself by remembering he needed to find his brother. He would have to come back here with Papyrus later. 

“Ugh, it’s so dark in here! But that must mean I’m getting close, right? …Sans, where did you run off to?”

Sans eye snapped to attention when he heard that familiar, complaining voice, his body turning desperately in every direction. “Papyrus!”

His brother wasn’t in sight however, instead he found Mary farther off near one of the flowers. “Oh! Sorry!” 

Mary took a step back when Sans hurried over to the flower, now fully engrossed in it. “Did you touch it?”

“Y-Yes.” Mary admitted, eyes looking away before regaining their usual spark. “That must mean your brother came through here!”

Mary would have stated more but the minute Sans noticed a doorway in a bed of rock he had already scooped Mary into his arms and ran for it. Mary was thrown onto her sister, to which both bunnies tried to get off one another. “Mary!”

“Stop squirming, Carrie!”

Mary eventually got a hold of her limbs, scurrying up Sans once more and planting her small body in Sans’ hood while holding onto his hair. “Slow down!”

Sans however didn’t take into account Mary’s pleas and instead pushed his way through the doorframe and onto wooden docks. His eyes scanned futilely for another path and once found continued onward. 

They crossed the river on a small pad of wood, with Sans almost falling in due to lack of balance several times. He sprinted over more docks and long, winding tunnels; they even talked to a social outcast octopus, who seemed very determined to start a conversation. But soon Sans had to stop all his running and was forced to walk the rest of the way, his breaths short from carrying so much with the two girls and his backpack on him.

Mary noticed how tired Sans was and patted his head sympathetically. “Hey, why don’t we stop and rest for a little?”

Even Carrie looked concerned, but Sans shook his head bitterly. “I’m fine. I don’t want to keep Papyrus waiting.”

Mary glanced at her sister, who thought the same thing. Just as Sans was considering taking up the offer, he noticed something before him. A small light shined down from where he assumed was the outside and onto a stone statue. Rain fell upon the creature’s head and trickled down the body, and while Sans was more interested in the statue Mary and Carrie noticed something else. “The umbrella is gone.”

“Umbrella?” Sans looked around the statue for perhaps a stone umbrella that might have been broken off, but there wasn’t any signs on the statue that something broke.  
Mary frowned. “Someone must have taken it.”

Sans tried shrugging, but that was hard with a heavy backpack and a child on his back. He merely gave Mary a confused look before continuing on.

As weariness started to settle in, Sans felt a drop of water plop onto his nose. He looked up just in time to watch a torrent of water fall from the sky, experiencing his first rain in the Underground.

Mary squeaked and held her hands up as the drops of water hit upon her face. Apparently she didn’t find water funny anymore. 

Sans would have put up his hood but Mary was riding in it, so instead he spoke. “You can hide in my hood if you want.”

“I think it’s too small.” When Sans turned his head back it seemed as though Mary was already trying, shuffling her body from side to side and pulling on the hood to get it over her.

“What about that?” Carrie softly asked, pointing to a silver trashcan not too far away. Sans approached it only to find a small note near the can reading, ‘Please take one.’

With Sans holding Carrie he couldn’t reach for the umbrellas, but Carrie seemed to be a step ahead of him. She grabbed one of the umbrellas and handed it up to her sister, who eagerly opened the umbrella.

With a pop the fabric had been thrown up and Sans could hear the rain hit the top. He looked down to Carrie with a smile. “Nice going, kid.”

Carrie responded back with a light giggle, having taken fondly to Sans now.

Sans trudged further with Mary and Carrie still upon him; each step heavier than the last. He wondered just how far Papyrus had gone ahead, and the question of why was still burned inside his mind. Papyrus sounded upset in the echo flower, but there was also a hint of worry. 

“Sir…” It was then that Sans could feel Mary put more weight on his head, the umbrella drooping a little. 

Sans looked back and noticed that Mary was trying hard to stay awake, but failing. “I’m tired…”

Knowing that Mary was starting to lose consciousness, Sans looked down to see Carrie in the same boat. She rubbed her eyes and let out a few yawns, getting more comfortable in Sans’ arms. He had forgotten that his companions were just children.

“Alright, we’ll stop for now.” Sans knew going back would be wasting more time than he wanted, so his only option was to take a rest.

With no spot in sight Sans found himself sighing, carrying two children who were starting to fall asleep. He didn’t know what inside of him prompted him to do what he did, but opening his mouth, Sans started to sing:

**My child,**

**it’s time to go to bed,**

**Your face is getting red,**

**but I know best.**

**My child,**

**lay your head down please,**

**You must be getting so sleepy,**

**I know.**

**My child,**

**I’ll tuck you in all nice,**

“Kiss your forehead twice.”

Sans felt his voice catch in his throat when Mary started to sing with him. Her words were slurred but she knew the song, which made Sans hesitantly look at her.  
“You… you know this song?”

“Yeah.” Mary rubbed one of her tired eyes. “It’s the royal monster lullaby. All monster children are sung it, even Mama sang it to us.”

Sans blinked, facing forward with a blank expression. “Mine too.”

His voice crawling out into his mouth, Sans started once more, with Mary sleepily singing along. Her slurred lyrics mixing with a deep, velvet tone.

**Kiss your forehead twice,**

**and sing you to sleep.**

**My child,**

**I’ll do this every day,**

**So you can hear me say,**

**I love you.**

**My child,**

**it’s time to go to bed,**

**Your face is getting red,**

**but I know best.**

**My child,**

**sweet dreams await you now,**

**And I will allow…**

**you to sleep.**

Just as Sans finished up he noticed a hole in one of the walls. He found a small crevice where the rain fell lightly, deciding to sit down on the moist vegetation beneath him and take off his backpack. Mary crawled off of Sans’ head and let him hold the umbrella while she crawled onto his lap. Carrie did the same, and while Sans figured they would have fought for space they simply fell against one another.

Sans lightly chuckled, seeing how these two girls could go from rambunctious to dead-tired in half a day. In remembering the time Sans dug through his pocket, producing the pocket watch. It was the evening in the real world, which made Sans huff.

He pocketed back the watch before getting comfortable with the rock wall behind him. He could feel Mary and Carrie’s little bodies move up and down from their heavy breathing as they slept, and Sans couldn’t help but know he would join them soon.

Closing his good eye, Sans felt himself drift off from this world and into another, where things were simpler. 

He was taken back to when he was just a child, no older than 10. He remembered Papyrus getting him a plastic telescope for his birthday and sitting outside with his brother on that wintery night, gazing at the stars. His mom had given him a star constellation book for his birthday as well, which he used that night to find the 12 zodiacs and show to Papyrus. 

Papyrus was always supportive of his dream to one day go into outer space. Their mother found it to be a simple hobby of Sans and treated it as such, but their father was less supportive of it. And as the night dragged on, with both of them laughing and having fun, they both had lost track of time.

His last memories of that moment were when Papyrus had carried Sans in from being out so late. He was drifting to sleep on his brother’s back, but still remembered his father’s gift sitting on the table. It was a study kit. A book he would never crack open.


	8. Level 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Part 2' of Level 6.

“Sans?” The short brother was caught off guard when he heard his name. His nose sucked in a breath of air as his left eye fluttered open from being so sleepy. 

“Hmm?”

“Sans!” That wasn’t Mary or Carrie’s voice, in fact the voice was so familiar it startled Sans awake when he recognized it. 

His left eye shot open, and there before him was Papyrus.

His tall brother loomed over his sitting figure, a look of concern on his face while he held a red umbrella. He looked to be on the verge of tears. “Sans.”

“Papyrus!” Sans would have flung himself at his brother, if not for the weight on his legs reminding him he was with children. He lightly shook them awake as Carrie and Mary woke themselves up.

“Hmm? Is it morning?”

With both girls moving off Sans, it gave the brother the room to jump up and hug Papyrus. Papyrus stumble backwards from the additional weight being thrown at him, letting go of his umbrella and eventually falling. “Sans!!”

Both girls flinched when they hit the ground as the red umbrella fell gracefully to the grass before them. Sans was in a fit of laughter as he laid on his brother, who tried using all his strength to get his heavy brother off. “Sans! Get off me!”

Sans didn’t reply at first, simply getting off of his brother. Papyrus stood back up immediately, checking his clothes which were covered in grass bits, mud, and drenched in cold water. “And now my clothes are all wet and dirty! Out of all the times to dog pile me, this was the worst time, Sans! It’s not like I have other clothes to wear!”

Sans merely gave Papyrus a goofy grin, which was when he paused and noticed San’s right eye. His anger disappeared, hands dropping. “Sans, your eye.”

“Oh, this?” Sans didn’t lose with grin, in fact it only grew. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Like heck I won’t worry about it!” Mary and Carrie turned to one another as they watched Papyrus get back on his knees, inspecting his brother closer. 

Papyrus gave a resounding huff as Sans kept giggling. “Honestly, Sans. I leave you to go and rescue some spiders and now you have a black eye! What would you do without-!”

Papyrus didn’t get to finish his words before being pulled into a tight hug. His cheeks turned red from the sudden affection, and he could feel his brother’s hands shaking when he held him. “Sans?”

“I thought I lost you.” It was faint, but Papyrus heard his brother’s whisper. His brother’s body shook, and Papyrus decided to give in and return the hug.

“I’m right here, Sans.” Papyrus calmly responded, closing his eyes as Sans took a moment. “I’m right here…”

As the two brothers embraced, Mary felt herself turn to look at her sister. Carrie did the same, with tears lining her small eyes.

Mary saw this and moved a step over, grabbing Carrie’s hand and holding it firmly in hers. Carrie was shocked for a moment, but didn’t pull her hand away. Instead she stepped closer as well, taking in the moment.

It was a few minutes before Sans moved again. He stood back up while wiping his left eye, something Papyrus did as well. However Papyrus seemed more focused on Mary and Carrie than he was before. “Sans, who are they?”

Papyrus gave Sans a look that asked, ‘don’t tell me you’re saving them too’ to which Sans laughed at. He wiped away an extra tear, shaking his head. “Nah, bro. These two kids wanted to help me come find you.”

“I’m Mary!” Mary stepped forward, her hands extended out as she pulled Carrie along with her. “And this is my sister, Carrie!”

Papyrus gave a nervous wave. “Hello… bunny children.”

Papyrus turned to Sans, pointing at his jacket. “And the jacket?”

Sans put his hands in the pockets. “It was a gift. How does it look?”

Before Papyrus could respond Sans cut him off. “Actually, I have a better question. What were you doing so far away from Snowdin?”

Sans eye got a little more serious, still keeping his smile. “Were you trying to scare me? Get back at me for going off with the spiders?”

“Please, Sans. I’m not that childish.” Papyrus folded his arms, which was all Sans needed to know Papyrus wasn’t lying. Not that he could. 

Papyrus threw his right hand into the air while his left hand still laid on his arm. “I was merely freezing in the snow, minding my own business. When suddenly, a noise from outside caught my attention! Naturally being the brave man I am-”

“Meaning you hid until you knew it was safe to come out.” 

“Sans!” Papyrus turned and threw his hands to the ground, as Sans looked away with a grin on his face. Mary and Carrie also giggled, which made Papyrus turn to them. “Don’t laugh!”

“Aw, don’t pick on the kids, Papyrus.” Sans still kept his grin. “Keep going, I’m listening.”

Gesturing an arm, the group started moving again down the tunnel of never-ending rain. Papyrus grumbled, but eventually got back to his normal tone. “Anyways, I went outside to investigate and found something written in the snow!”

Papyrus frowned, as if he was trying real hard to remember something. “It was a really weird message, something about mews and kissing? Even with my brilliance I couldn’t solve such a riddle so I headed back to the shack, but was greeted to another snow message. This was one was about a ‘mewmew’ and ‘the grave kiss’?”

Papyrus’ face seemed to reflect his confusion, even Sans didn’t know how to respond. “There were a lot more the closer I got to the shack, until I found this at the doorway.”

Papyrus dug through his pocket with his walkman, pulling out a black pager. Sans took it from Papyrus’ hands, looking it over. “I picked it up to see if someone had dropped it and it suddenly shook with the words, ‘RUN’ in all caps and lots of exclamation marks!”

“So you ran?” Sans asked, giving the pager back to Papyrus.

He placed it back in his pocket. “Well, I thought for a second it might have been you paging me, so yeah. But uh… I kind of remembered you don’t have a pager.”

Sans raised his eyebrow. “Who would tell you to run?”

“Oh!” Both Papyrus and Sans looked down to Mary, who was hopping up and down to get their attention. “A couple of Royal Guards came through the area before we found you. They were searching for humans.”

“Oh?” The notion of just missing the Royal Guard sent shivers up Papyrus’ spine, but Sans was still confused.

His eyebrow furrowed. “Someone is helping us.” 

“Who would help us though?” Papyrus placed a hand to his chin when a thought occurred to him. He turned to Sans quickly. “Do you think it’s the same person who paid for our room?”

“Maybe.” Sans shrugged, though he didn’t really know how to feel at the moment. He wanted to be grateful, but after Flowey and Sagiv, Sans was becoming less trustworthy of the monsters here.

Soon the rain started to disappear, and with it their tunnel of darkness had opened to dim light. Mary and Carrie, who knew what was coming ran on ahead, while Sans and Papyrus kept at their leisurely walk.

When exiting the mouth of the cave, Papyrus and Sans couldn’t help but stop. Papyrus let his hand fall with the umbrella. “No way.”

Beyond them was a sea of glittering, blue rocks that formed the sky and painted a picture of stars. Vast lands stretched beyond the little walkway of rock they had been traveling, and in the distance rose a magnificent castle, shadowed in darkness with only the lights from windows to outline silhouettes.

“Asgore’s castle…” Sans breathed, the sight something to behold. 

“Who’s castle?” Papyrus asked, his attention gone from the scene before them.

“Asgore; the King of the Monsters.” Sans turned to look at his brother, occasionally glancing at the land before them. “Mary and Carrie said that the only way out is through the barrier in his castle.”

“The barrier?” Papyrus gave a questionable stare at Sans. “And you’re telling me we have to go through the castle of the King who wants our souls?”

“Afraid so.” Sans shrugged. “The barrier is what keeps the monsters from reaching the surface. Seven human souls can break the barrier, but a powerful human soul can escape without breaking it.”

“So all we need to do is just get there.” Papyrus’ face mirrored the fear that was rising in his chest, his eyes wandering back to the silhouette. “Past the Royal Guard and probably hundreds of other guards...”

Sans was caught off guard when Papyrus started to laugh. No, it was a nervous chuckle, for the way Papyrus’ eyes screamed it made Sans afraid. “All those stories of people never returning. This is why, isn’t it? They got trapped down here and their souls were taken from them. Nyeh heh heh…”

Sans contemplated telling his brother what Sagiv told him. That so far they had collected five human souls and if they were captured then the monsters would go free.

Sans quickly stomped out that idea from how frightened Papyrus was acting, placing a hand on his chest as his shoulder was too far out of reach. “Hey, bro. We have each other, remember? Those other people probably didn’t have someone else with them. But I know that we’ll make it.”

“You really think so?” It wasn’t with a positive attitude when Papyrus asked his question. He turned to look Sans in the eye. He was genuinely asking him.

Sans wasn’t expecting that hopelessness in his brother’s eyes, but a fire burned within him to rip it out. “I promise. We will make it, together. And no Royal Guard or King is going to separate us.”

Sans’ words seemed to have an impact on Papyrus’ mood when he gave his brother a soft smile back. “Yeah, we’ll make it together.”

But as Papyrus started walking off to continue their quest, Sans felt himself stuck. His heart felt as though he had jabbed a stake in it, knowing how heavy that lie was.

“Well, you coming Sans?” Sans gazed ahead and saw Papyrus waiting for him, umbrella back over his head even if it wasn’t raining.

Sans smiled. “Heading your way, bro.”

“I swear your dramatic pauses are getting longer and longer.” Papyrus teased, ruffling Sans’ hair when he walked over. Together the two called back over Mary and Carrie, who had decided to rest on a nearby boulder and look at the castle, and all four of them entered back into the mouth of another cave.

After depositing their umbrellas in another trashcan, they soon were met with a tall wall of rock and above they assumed was their path forward.

Sans looked to the wall that was just height-level with Papyrus’ head. “So. What now?”

Papyrus took it upon himself to flash a smile, then proudly rest a hand on his chest. “Never fear, brother!”

He glanced to Mary and Carrie, adding a quick,“-And monsters. I, the Great Papyrus, can easily scale this wall and then pull you up!”

“You? Pull me up?” Sans judged Papyrus’ skinny arms before looking to his pot belly. “I don’t think you can.”

“A non-believer!” Papyrus eyed his brother. “Watch and be amazed, Sans!”

Hands grabbing the top, Sans nearly forgot how strong his brother was after he lifted himself up and over the wall. Papyrus took a moment to stand up triumphantly with his hands on his hips, giving off his signature laugh. Now all that was missing was the big, red cap billowing behind him and a sun to shine light down upon his magnificent being.

“Nyeh heh heh! I am amazing.” Papyrus waited for applause but was disheartened to not hear anything. 

“Well, beggars can’t be choosers.” He then got down on his knees, extending a hand for Sans. “Come, Sans! Join me up here in glory!”

“Heh, sure thing, bro.” Sans removed his backpack first, handing it to Papyrus to which he pulled up and set down on the nearby wall. Next Sans gave Papyrus his hand, but Sans was less eager to give Papyrus all his weight. He was afraid the next thing he would see would be Papyrus falling down on him.

Papyrus pulled back on Sans’ hand as hard as he could, which in turn made Sans yelp from below. “Papyrus! Erk, stop!”

“I can do this!” Papyrus grunted as he kept continuing to pull, with Sans trying to keep himself from falling and in turn pulling Papyrus with him.

“You two are funny.” 

“Huh?” Papyrus was alerted to hear the children’s voices so close, his head turning to see them standing on the edge of the cliff with him.

“How did you get up here?” Papyrus let go of Sans’ hand in confusion, but turned back to the bottom when he heard Sans fall to the ground. “Sans?”

Sans threw up a thumb from where he laid. “I’m ok.”

He then sat up when he heard Mary and Carrie laugh. Mary pointed over to the left side of the wall. “We just used our magic, silly.”

“Magic?” The word seemed foreign to Papyrus, but upon inspecting the left wall a deep frown emerged on his face.

Sans looked over as well, noticing that the solid wall was not wall any longer. Now stone stairs grew out from the side and stopped at the top of the cliff, where Mary and Carrie waited.

“We can carve things out of stone.” Mary proudly stated, then showed a demonstration of her power by punching the wall near her. 

Papyrus screeched and backed up when a spike of rock came jutting out of the wall and almost into his eye, to which Mary and Carrie seemed to giggle at.

The rock soon returned to the wall, where Mary decided to put her hands on her hips and mimic Papyrus’ earlier pose. “’Nyeh heh heh’! I, the great Mary, am awesome!”

“Me too!” Carrie decided to join in as well, throwing her arms up into the air as Mary did the same. They repeated Papyrus’ laugh until Sans had walked himself up the stairs and over to where his backpack rest.

He could only laugh to see how red Papyrus’ cheeks were. “They’re just kids. Let them have it.”

Papyrus responded by folding his arms. “I do not sound like that.”

Sans giggled at how flustered his brother was, eye looking back to the darkness they came from. He didn’t know why he turned in that direction, but he was eternally grateful when he did for he saw something horrifying.

A flash of green light.

“Get down!!” Sans tackled Papyrus to the ground just as a giant, green arrow zipped through the air and where Papyrus used to stand.

Mary and Carrie ducked their heads and screamed while Papyrus got his bearings. “Wh-what was that?!”

“Sagiv.” Sans’ tone was serious, grabbing his backpack and motioning wildly with his arm. “Everyone, run!”

Mary, Carrie and Papyrus didn’t fight Sans on the order, following him down the dark tunnel where it exited them onto split docks, where one was placed just underneath the one they ran on.

“Sagiv? Who’s Sagiv?” Papyrus asked Sans as he easily took the lead.

“The parrot guy?” It took Papyrus a few seconds to remember who Sagiv was.

When he remembered who Sagiv was though his whole mood went to hell. “We’re going to die!!”

“P-Papyrus!!” Papyrus and Sans screeched to a halt and turned their bodies to the noise. Mary and Carrie were struggling to keep up, panting and ultimately still fatigued from all the walking earlier.

“There they are!!” Sans and Papyrus’ eyes then trained onto the dock below them, fear rising in their chests as Sagiv and his two Royal Guards came from an unknown tunnel. 

Sagiv squawked when he saw Sans, eyes narrowed and dangerous. “Clearly I underestimated you and your obsessive weight. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Sans left eye grew wide as Sagiv quickly whipped out his bow and in the next second a bolt of green zipped right at him. The boards beneath Sans’ feet glowed green, and in lunging himself to the side had managed to dodge the arrow that flew through the wood and into the mountain.

Sans continued this game of hopping from one foot to another, then throwing himself from one end of the board to another until Mary and Carrie caught up.

They hunched over to take a break. “I don’t… understand… why… is Mr. Sagiv… attacking you…?”

Their lungs froze however when the ground beneath them lit up in green as Sagiv took aim. He apparently hadn’t seen the children, but one of his other men did as he pushed into him. “Sir, those are monster children!!”

“What?!” But Sagiv’s hand slipped just as the guard smashed into him, the arrows flying upwards towards Mary and Carrie.

“Girls!” Sans cried, his feet already responding to the call to move towards them. But from how far he had danced to not get skewered left him too far away to actually do anything.

Both bunnies stood frozen from fear until another figure grabbed them and rolled away from the danger zone. It was Papyrus, who held each bunny under his arms just as the green arrows zipped through the board and into the air. They didn’t disappear this time however; instead they exploded into hundreds of smaller, white arrows as they rained down.

Sans was far enough away to not get hit, but he had to watch his brother protect the two girls with his back as arrow after arrow stabbed into him. “PAPYRUS!!”

It wasn’t until the storm of arrows was finished that Papyrus weakly stood back up, still holding both girls in his arms. They were frightened beyond belief, crying into his chest while Papyrus gave his brother a weak smile. “I-I’m ok!”

But Sans could see the small rings of blood start to pool on his back, his fear only escalating from there.

“How **dare** you.” 

Sans and Papyrus’ attention went below again, where the Royal Guard stood. If Sagiv wasn’t upset earlier he was seething now. “First the spiders, now you’re kidnapping innocent monster children? I will mount your heads over my mantel!!”

Sans was about to proclaim the need to run but Papyrus had already beat him, with Sans struggling to keep up for the first few seconds. Because of the damage Papyrus had taken he ran slower than usual, but it helped Sans keep a good pace with him. Together they swerved, halted, dodged and flung themselves down the board-walk where several times they had to turn around due to a dead end.

Arrows shot through the air in multiple sets, though they didn’t explode unlike earlier. Sans believed it was because Sagiv didn’t want to accidentally hit the children, which he was eternally thankful for.

He just didn’t wish Mary and Carrie had to be apart of this.

“Stop dodging and just give up!!” Sagiv yelled, who kept up with them easily as they ran through the maze of docks. “You will pay for your crimes against monster-kind!”

“I got this, Sir!” One of the guards had stopped to unclip a few, multi-colored bombs from a ring around their suit. 

Sagiv noticed what the guard was doing, eyes growing wild. “Wait, not the bombs!”

But Sagiv was too late to stop the guard, who threw the bombs up into the air and at Sans and Papyrus. Unlike the other arrows, the bombs were just a bit faster and without warning the two crashed into the spheres.

An explosion of rainbow colors and smoke erupted and dispelled around the whole area, caking everything in its shroud.

Sans suddenly found it hard to breathe, coughs coming out of his mouth more than actual breaths. His body fell to his knees, as Sans gripped his throat, trying desperately to breathe. Something inside of him seemed to spark, and with it a fiery sensation coursed through his bones and clung. His skin felt like it was melting off of his body, and with a cry of pain Sans angled his head to the sky.

His left eye was having a seizure from how much it twitched. It burned as though a trail of fire was emitting from his left eye socket, unable to close it while tears flowed down his cheek. Had Sans stopped screaming he would have heard Papyrus yelling in pain as well.

If not for the will to continue, Sans would have collapsed right then and there. But he forced himself to move once the pain started to subside, even if his head throbbed like his skull was aching to burst out of his skin.

He staggered out of the cloud of colors, his balance leaving him. “Papyrus?? Papyrus!!”

Sans turned back to the cloud when he didn’t see Papyrus in front of him, though he was relieved when his silhouette appeared. Papyrus soon burst through the cloud, still caring Mary and Carrie who were coughing and sneezing like crazy.

Papyrus looked fine when he stumbled over to Sans, head hanging low. “Sans?”

“I’m right here!” Sans directed Papyrus over to where he was, whose head suddenly sprang up. In looking at his brother Sans couldn’t help but gasp and place one foot back. “Y-Your eyes!”

“What?” Papyrus seemed confused, staring at his brother with bright, orange eyes. They seemed to glow from how dark the room was, locking onto Sans eyes as well. His face mimicked Sans’. “Your eye!”

“What?” Sans touched his left eye, which had burned the most and still had a lingering sensation. It was also at this time that Sans realized his black eye had healed, now being able to see out of both of his eyes. He wondered if his eyes were orange too, but explanations would have to wait. “We-we need to get out of here.”

Papyrus nodded his head, then both took off again. Back at the cloud, Sagiv and his men staggered out of the smoke, coughing and expelling attacks from their bodies left and right. 

Sagiv turned and smacked the guard who threw the bombs on the helmet. “You idiot!! Those are only for monsters who have magic, not humans!!”

The guard coward under Sagiv’s stern gaze, before it shifted over to Sans and Papyrus escaping. “Get to the top and get those children away from them! I’ll stay down here.”

“R-Right sir!” The two royal guards ran back from where they came, with Sagiv starting to get control of his powers again. He took aim. “I’m sick of this chase!!”

“Sagiv’s back.” Papyrus glumly surmised while Sans panted in following. 

“I can see that.” The more Sans ran, the less his body hurt until Sans couldn’t even remember why he was hurting. He didn’t know why, but energy seemed to surge through his body, as if he had downed five energy drinks.

He almost felt… powerful.

Papyrus also seemed to get the same buzz, his strides fuller in what felt like a faster speed for both. When his eyes went to Mary and Carrie, a feeling of guilt washing over him. “Papyrus.”

“Hm?” Papyrus looked down at what Sans was hinting it, understanding what he was saying.

Mary and Carrie had just gotten control of their sneezes when they felt a sudden jolt and both were placed on the dock. Once loose Carrie scrambled behind her sister, but Mary was confused. “What are you doing? We need to run!”

“Sorry, kid.” Sans bent down for a second as he picked up her hat, ruffling a tuff of fur on her head. “You aren’t safe with us. It’s us that need to flee, not you.”

“What… what are you saying.” Sans had to look away when small tears formed in Mary’s eyes. She puffed her cheeks out. “You can’t leave us behind! We’re a team, remember?”

Little sobs racked Mary’s body to which she brought a hand up to her eyes to rub them with. “I… I don’t understand.”

Carrie moved beside her sister to try and comfort her, but Mary just shoved her away. Carrie took cautious steps back before looking at Sans and Papyrus, her eyes tear-filled as well. “Where will you go?”

Sans gave a weak smile. “Wherever we can.”

“Children!” Sans got back to his feet when he noticed the two guards running towards them. Their time was up.

“They’ll take you home, I’m sure of it. Be safe, you two. And thanks.” Sans gave both of them a wink and a false smile as he felt Papyrus take his arm. 

Mary looked back up when she noticed Sans and Papyrus take off, chasing after them. “NO!”

She didn’t get far though before one of the guards caught her, getting on their knees to hold her back. Carrie didn’t move as she watched the other guard come behind her, but they both watched Mary struggle. “You can’t leave me!! We’re a team!!”

Her sobs had transformed into a full-blown cry. “You promised... you promised to tell me what you wished for!!”

Sans had to force himself to not look back, but Mary’s cries were almost impossible to escape. Papyrus gave his brother a weary glance. “Do you uh… want to talk about it?”

“Not now, bro.” The floor in front of them glowed bright green and both had to jerk to a stop just as a barrage of arrows flew up. Now that the children were gone, they had nothing protecting them from Sagiv’s attacks.

Papyrus and Sans watched the arrows fly into the air, shake, then burst into a million arrows that came down upon them.

Both boys escaped most of the arrows but were still hit by a few, continuing their run through the maze. Eventually the docks below them disappeared and with it they came to a dead-end.

“A dead-end?!” Papyrus held his head, looking down at the black abyss before them. 

They turned around only to feel a shock go through the boards, giving them both the bad feeling that Sagiv was on his way. 

Papyrus felt this was the best time to scream while Sans backed up, but stopped when he almost fell. They were trapped between a cliff and their murderer.

A buzzing noise came from Papyrus’ pocket, to which the teenager stopped screaming and stuck a hand in his pocket. “Oh what now?!”

It was the pager that was humming, though instead of buzzing once it acted like it was forever stuck in that mode. Sans angled his head up to see the message on the pager, or rather the constant flashing of new messages:

_Jump!_

_Jump!!_

_You’re going to be ok!!_

_JUMP!!_

“Are they serious?!” Papyrus asked, stuffing the pager back in his pocket. “As if we’re going to trust them!”

“They did save you, right?” Sans questioned, before he noticed a glowing green from the darkness. With it Sagiv emerged from the dark. He looked as though he was done talking, having seven arrows lined in his bow.

“We’re dead.” Papyrus said with a swallow of saliva, all color draining from his face.

Sans eyed the chasm below them, then back at Sagiv who was quickly approaching. Did they have another choice?

Roughly grabbing Papyrus’ hand, Sans closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and leapt off into the black. He could hear Papyrus come with by his screams, and could only hope that this fall would be softer than the last one they had.


	9. Level 8

_Soft sobs was all it took to bring Sans back to that moment in time, when he was just a young boy of eight. His head turned to see Papyrus crying at the front of the table, and immediately Sans knew he was back at Papyrus’ 10 th birthday party._

_He thought today was going to be a great day. Papyrus’ birthday just so happened to land on a Saturday, so they didn’t have to go through school or wake up early to celebrate. He could remember vividly the plans Papyrus made months in advance, how they were going to wake up and play video games all morning. Then, it would be ice cream and cookies for lunch to hold them off until all of Papyrus’ friends would arrive for the party, where lots of fun games would be held and Papyrus would be the center of attention. Finally, their mom and dad would bring in the cake and everyone would sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and when the party was over the whole family would come together to make spaghetti for dinner and watch movies until it was time to go to bed._

_The morning started off great. Papyrus beat Sans in most of the games they played, though Sans would occasionally get a score when Papyrus let him win. They had cookies and munched on mint chocolate chip ice cream for lunch, where both promptly got nauseous from so many sweets._

_But then the afternoon rolled around, and the doorbell didn’t ring. Papyrus assumed they were just being late on purpose and waited by the door for a few minutes. Then ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, two hours. No one came._

_And now Sans found himself sitting at the nicely decorated table, which was adorned in a plastic red with the racecar cake sitting at the end. He had dressed so nicely for this day too, wearing his green turtleneck and black pants that his mom loved him in so._

_“I can’t believe you.”_

_Sans turned his head where his ears picked up a conversation. It was his mother, trying to hush her livid voice in the kitchen. She stood in the shadows farther in the back so as to not let Papyrus or Sans see her, but Sans knew from past experience what their mother looked like when upset._

_“You were supposed to come home three hours ago… No, no don’t give me that excuse. This is your son’s **birthday.** Your **oldest** son. I’m sure your-…. Don’t you dare say, ‘I had to take it’ you take every case! Let someone else handle it for once!... **I’m** being unreasonable? How about asking your sons how many memories they have of their father being for them!...No, there is a difference between providing for the family and being in their lives!”_

_Sans gripped the back of his chair when his mother’s voice rose, though after a moment of pause it was back to its whisper. “I have another call. But I swear, when you get home Raviath we are having a long talk. Or you know what? Don’t come home tonight at all!”_

_He watched silently as his mother hung up on the phone call, the mouth of her silhouette moving but no words coming out. She put the phone to her ear again, her tone more professional. “This is Keshika… What... you can’t be-… but, today is my son’s birthday. Isn’t there someone… yes, I know what my job is… I’ll be there soon.”_

_The phone moved away from their mother’s ears, and Sans could feel his stomach drop. Their mother moved through the kitchen as she grabbed her purse on the counter where she left it, before entering the dining room near the front of the house._

_“Mom?” Papyrus had been crying so much that is almost surprised Sans to hear him speak. Keshika froze as if her heart was caught in thorns, turning to give Papyrus a light smile. “Are you leaving?”_

_“Unfortunately.” Keshika tried to keep the look of sadness off her face. “But I promise it won’t be long; I’ll be home tonight to make dinner, ok?”_

_“You’re leaving too?” Papyrus’ mouth wiggled with the threat of him crying again, eyes pleading. “You can’t leave! Today is my birthday!”_

_“I know, Papyrus. I know today is your birthday.” Keshika’s eyes darted away, in fact they stayed off of Papyrus and more so to the front door. “But mommy needs to work to make a living. I… I promise, I will get you another present tonight. Doesn’t that sound nice?”_

_“I don’t want another present!” Papyrus’ voice rose, while a few tears streamed down his already soaked cheeks. “I want my friends to come to my party! I want to celebrate my birthday with my family; my parents!”_

_“I know, Papyrus.” Sans noticed Keshika’s fingers get tense as they started to ball into fists. Her tone got more irritated. “But sometimes we can’t always be here on special days like this. Do you like the house you live in? The toys you get? That’s because your father and I work hard to provide for you two. It’s not easy living this nicely without having to put in a few more hours.”_

_“I don’t care about the house!” Papyrus shouted back, getting just as irritated as his mother was. “I just want us to be a family!”_

_Keshika’s tone snapped. “Well sometimes we have to stop thinking about ourselves and what we want! It’s not always about you!!”_

_An uneasy, deafening silence fell over the dining room. Sans eyes couldn’t have been bigger to see their mother turn on them, and in that moment of silence, she too realized what she had just done. Papyrus had gone cold before the tears resurfaced along with jerking sobs._

_Keshika brought her hands up and looked as though she would move over to Papyrus and comfort him; that she would apologize and stay. But then her eyes noticed the clock behind Papyrus, and her first words were a quick. “I have to leave.”_

_Without another word Keshika sped walk over to the front door, grabbing her shoes and overcoat. Sans could remember Papyrus jumping up from his seat as he raced after their mother, trying to grab any piece of clothing he could to keep her there. But she merely pushed him off and hid herself behind the front door, where she promptly stayed and held the door shut while Papyrus banged on it and tried to force it open._

_Eventually Papyrus gave up and slowly let his body slide down the door, hands clinging to the front door as he sobbed his little heart out. Sans’ felt as though he had just witnessed a murder, as he watched his mother’s silhouette disappear from the window near the front door, leaving Papyrus to be a broken mess._

_Sans didn’t know what he was feeling at the moment, his hand fluttering over to his chest. But something inside of him grew dark, and that night when he tucked himself in he heard his mother knock on the door._

_She called his name but Sans would not respond until he saw the dark silhouettes of her feet disappear from beneath the door. He then stood up and opened the door, noticing an innocent present at his feet. A white note card read, ‘I’m sorry.’_

_Picking up the gift, Sans closed the door and walked over to the window of his room, opening it as silently as he could before letting the present smash onto the ground._

Tiny drops of water fell onto Sans’ face, slowly bringing him out of his dream world and back into reality. His first thought was why he was having so many dreams about the past, but then the second thought to occur was how wet he felt.

Sitting up, Sans soon realized why he was completely soaked. He was three inches deep in still water, and everything but his stomach and face were drenched in the cold water. The world around him seemed to be amassed in water, as more waterfalls came down from the heavens to supply the slowly moving liquid. Piles upon piles of garbage were scattered across the water, and occasionally Sans would see some item or trash fall down one of the columns of water.

Sans also realized right after he sat up was that his backpack wasn’t on his back. He turned his head around as he scanned the watery world, praying it hadn’t floated away while he was out.

What baffled Sans the most though was how he felt. He figured after falling for a good twenty seconds before he blacked out would probably have left some bruises or him aching like when they fell into the Underground. But his body moved like it was supposed to, in fact, he felt like he had gotten a great night of sleep.

“Nngh.”

Papyrus’ groan led Sans’ eyes over to a small patch of ground higher than the water could reach, where Papyrus promptly laid. He was in the middle of a patch of golden flowers, which probably broke his fall better than Sans’. Again with those flowers…

Sans shuddered as he was once more reminded of Flowey, quickly pushing that thought out of his head. He then pushed himself up and out of the water, though that was a little harder as the water clung to his clothes and made it that much heavier.

“Papyrus.” Sans spoke, taking big steps over to where his brother slept. He took a step up and onto the flowers before getting to his knees, shaking Papyrus. “Come on, bro. Wake up.”

“Mmm, is it time for school?” Papyrus’ eyelashes fluttered before he fully awoke. Sans could feel a part inside of him still flinch when he was greeted to those bright, orange eyes.

The same eyes moved to look at Sans. After a second, they narrowed. “You threw us off the docks.”

Sans let out a sigh of relief, as he regained his smile. “Heh, seemed like the better option.”

“Oh yes, let’s just jump to our deaths! Again!” Papyrus sat up while Sans just shrugged his shoulders, deciding to stretch a few stiff muscles.

His eyes quickly scanned Sans back. “Where’s your backpack?”

Sans gave a half-hearted shrug, smile fading. “I uh, lost it.”

“You lost it?!” Sans flinched slightly from how loud Papyrus was, who resigned himself to slap a hand on his face. “Great. Juuuust great.”

“It shouldn’t be too far, bro. Relax.” Sans’ eyes quickly darted to the trash world around them, hoping that their backpack would be just a few steps away.

Papyrus eyed his brother as if to deny that thought while he was giving his right arm a good stretch. It seemed like he was having a hard time trying to form a sentence. “So uh… do you…know…”

In unable to speak it, Papyrus just decided to stop the stretching and point to his own left eye. Sans sat there confused for a moment before he realized Papyrus was mentioning his eye. “I can’t really see my own eye, Papyrus.”

“Er, right.” Papyrus dropped his finger as his eyes averted away. In doing so Papyrus had the chance to really take in the new world around them. “Wow, this place is a dump.”

“I think it is a dump.” Sans got to his feet as Papyrus did the same, though Papyrus was reluctant to leave dry land.

Sans however figured you can’t get anymore wet when you’re drenched and stepped back into the water. Though he did feel a shudder crawl up his spine from how cold the water was. “We better keep moving.”

“To where?” Papyrus followed slowly after Sans, who moved over to one of the garbage piles. He pulled his foot back out when the water soaked his shoe and crept to this foot, then swallowed his pride and plunged the foot in. He physically shook and hissed in a breath. “We’ve literally been trashed!”

“I bet there’s a way out.” Sans heard Papyrus sloshing through the water but didn’t turn to look at him, instead he was more focused on the garbage that surrounded him. There were obvious things that should have been thrown away, like candy wrappers and cardboard boxes. But then there were stranger things, like unopened DVD cases, discolored toys, a lot of old, retro clothing, a skateboard with a wheel missing, several old, torn books and various other things.

A faded green book caught Sans’ attention as he had to stand on his tip-toes to grab it. When he grasped the book he innocently flipped through it, and it wasn’t long before he started to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Papyrus turned from the garbage pile he was rummaging through, which was directly across from Sans’.

Sans turned to look at his brother, his trademark grin on his face. “Hey, Papyrus. What did the southern fish say to his friends at their backyard party?”

Papyrus gave Sans a questionable stare. “Uh… I don’t know. ‘I’m so glad you all could make it, now let’s enjoy this cheese platter I made?’?”

Sans grin grew wider as if what he was about to say was a sin. “Nope. It’s ‘Time to break out the gill’.”

Papyrus face fell, as if Sans had just cursed at him. An audible groan accompanied his features, to which Sans started snickering. “Ugh, that was terrible.”

“Really?” Sans tried to hold back his laughter, eagerly looking to the book while biting his lower lip. “Because I thought it was ‘pun’-tastic.”

“Sans!” Sans couldn’t help but burst into laughter, Papyrus never having seen his brother laugh so hard. It only made him more annoyed though, as he turned back around. “I hope you had your laugh because you’re not keeping that book!”

Papyrus stared harshly at the garbage pile, as if waiting for a non-existent wind to blow through his hair. “That book is unholy.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sans stood back up when he could get control of his breathing again. He fondly held the book in his hands before pocketing it in one of the jacket sleeves for reading later. “I’m putting it away, don’t worry.”

“Good.” As Papyrus rummaged through his pile something shimmering seemed to catch his glance. He pushed away a few broken toys and failed exercise dvds before picking the item up in question.

“What did you find?” Sans could hear the rummaging but only turned his head when Papyrus didn’t respond.

“Hey, you gone deaf on me?” Sans trudged over to where Papyrus stood, about to tease his brother more when he suddenly saw those orange eyes being reflected in a broken mirror.

Papyrus seemed to notice this too, eyes wide as he had his fingers close to his eyelashes, inspecting further. “Are these…?”

He then turned to Sans, dumbfounded and dazed. “Is this…?”

Sans sighed. “Yeah. They’re real, bro.”

Papyrus didn’t speak, only going back to the gaze of the mirror to stare at his reflection more. Soon he muttered something. “I don’t know if I should be amazed or freaking out.”

“Try amazed.” Sans winked. “There’s less screaming in that option.”

Papyrus gave Sans a nasty glare when he made light of their conversation. “This isn’t funny, Sans. Something happened to us!”

“Relax, Papyrus.” Sans gave his older brother a comforting smile, which Papyrus did not return.

“How about you relax when you see yourself.” In a bit of anger Papyrus thrust the mirror in Sans’ direction. Sans didn’t have a second to spare before he was faced with himself, and the glowing, blue eye staring back at him.

His smile fell faster than he could blink.

As if in a trance Sans moved closer to the mirror, inspecting his left eye more intently. His right eye looked perfectly fine, still keeping that warm, brown color that his father had. But his left eye. Now it was an icy, piercing blue and Sans could have swore in this dim lighting that it was glowing.

Sort of like his mother’s, except the glowing part.

“Not funny now, is it?” Papyrus asked, wearing a bit of a smug grin as if he had won the argument.

“Funny? No.” Sans placed his hand on the top of the mirror chunk, before moving it down so Papyrus could see his face.

He wore his same, silly grin. “But Awesome? Definitely.”

Papyrus’ face got warm. “Sans!”

“What?” Sans shrugged while Papyrus put the mirror back in the garbage pile. “I can finally say I have hetero-colored eyes.”

He then pointed to Papyrus’ eyes. “I’m pretty sure your shiners will get you a lot of attention back at school, too.”

Embarrassed Papyrus lifted a hand to his right eye, his cheeks growing red. “Sans, you’re not taking this seriously! That bomb had something in it that did this to us! What if-!”

“What? We get crazy hair too?” Sans swaggered back over to his garbage pile, intent now on finding some other cool things in the stack. “If that happens I want my hair to be pink.”

“What if it turns us into monsters.”

Sans froze. He wasn’t expecting to hear such a dark tone in Papyrus’ voice, turning back over to where his brother stood. He didn’t look happy with his newfound revelation, and Sans knew all too late that poking fun of it wasn’t the smartest move.

Sans let out a nervous chuckle, trying not to let Papyrus see the lingering thought start to take root in his mind. “Hey, that’s a bit crazy to suggest. I’m sure this is just an after effect of-”

“’Never forget your origin.’”

Sans couldn’t have become more paralyzed when Papyrus kept speaking, how serious he was at the moment. “That’s what mom used to say to us when we were younger, remember? ‘Never forget your origins. We have monster blood running deep inside of us.’”

The more Papyrus talked, the deeper the seed of doubt was planted. He tried to keep himself from not showing the imminent fear overtaking his soul, how true Papyrus’ words rang.

For all the crazy Papyrus spouted, there was always that one time when Papyrus was smarter than him.

Sans walked back over to where Papyrus stood, his smile half gone but still presentable. He wasn’t just trying to comfort Papyrus now. “Hey Pap, it’s going to be ok. If we were supposed to turn into monsters, wouldn’t we by now?”

Papyrus’ eyes looked away as his shoulders drooped. Sans decided to continue. “I mean, remember Grandpa?”

“How could I forget.” Papyrus eye’s seemed to glaze over, as if he was reliving the experience of seeing their mom’s father. Lush green fields, a tire swing to swing on tied to an old, oak tree; and a small house in the middle of a farm where grandma made the best Imarti on the holidays.

“Well you remember his eye color right?” Sans pointed to Papyrus’ eyes. “Orange, just like yours.”

“Nyeh, we used to call him ‘grand pumpkin’.” Papyrus sprouted a small smile, as if he was hearing a younger him and Sans sit in their grandfather’s lap and call him such silly names while the old man chuckled.

Sans could feel his smile grow when Papyrus started to look better, placing a hand on his arm. “See? This doesn’t mean we’re going to turn into monsters. Rather, I think the bomb just changes a few chromosomes.”

Papyrus glanced back over to his brother, who pointed at his left eye as an example. “Blue is a rare trait to have for eyes, but that doesn’t mean that the trait wasn’t carried over. Mom also could have been a carrier for orange eyes, which was placed inside you. When the bomb hit us, it must have switched the dominant traits with the recessive traits, giving us our funky colors.”

Papyrus’ shoulders bunched as he let out a small chuckle. “You always sound funny whenever you talk science.”

“I know. I forgot to bring my glasses and pocket protector.” Sans felt tension relieve him when Papyrus snorted and his chuckle got louder. He held up his hands to try and keep his smile from showing.

Sans patted Papyrus on the shoulder. “Come on, ‘Grand Pumpkin’, let’s get home. You need to stop worrying so much; you’re using up your ‘comfort’ cards.”

“Nyeh, sorry.” Papyrus felt a bit silly as he watched his younger brother slowly trudge through the thick water.

Papyrus sought after him, though his new eyes seemed to find wonder in all the trash that had piled up down there. “So, I have a question. If both my eyes turned orange, why did only one of yours turn blue?”

“Now that’s something I can’t explain.” Sans didn’t seem too hung up on the question, still keeping his consistent smile. “I think we can safely put it up there with the discussion of ‘magic’.”

“I still can’t believe those children could manipulate rocks.” Papyrus muttered, though his voice grew louder when an idea popped into his head. “Do you think we’re going to gain powers, Sans?”

“What?” Sans physically stopped and turned to look at his brother. “Us, gain magic?”

Papyrus seemed to like the idea, nodding his head furiously. “Yeah! Like what if I gain the power to fly, or have super strength, or-!”

“Or turn into a snail.” Papyrus frowned when Sans decided to crush a rock onto his imagination.

Sans chuckled. “Hey, just playing around. Don’t get so down in the ‘dump’.”

Papyrus kicked some trash water onto Sans’ face before moving on.

After wiping off the trashy water and catching up to Papyrus, they were just about to turn the only corner they came upon when unfamiliar voices caught them off guard.

“Whoa! Look at this thing! What do you think it is?”

“Hmm, I’d say that’s a journal. Or a diary, Wahaha!”

“Do you think it’s filled with human battle strategies? Wait, what am I saying, of course it is!!”

“Only one way to find out, now isn’t there.”

One voice was very loud, yet definitely female, while the other one was far older and had a wise infliction whenever they spoke. Papyrus and Sans both eyed one another and decided to risk the chance encounter round the corner.

In doing so the two were greeted by two figures just farther down the river of trash and water where it apparently stopped and dry land started. One of the figures was small and covered in dark blue scales, to which both Papyrus and Sans assumed was a fish person. Instead of ears the fish-monster had red, webbed fins with short, red hair that looked as though it was cut by wild scissors. They wore a torn white striped shirt and dirtied overalls, but the craziest thing about the fish were the sharp, jagged teeth and yellow pupils with small, beady black irises.

The other creature, who was obviously a turtle, looked much kinder than the crazy fish it was hanging around. Its skin was a swampy green, with dark green spots speckled around his wrinkling body. It wore a tan explorer’s outfit, which Sans wondered how it put it on complete with an explorer’s helmet. Bushy, white hair made for a great pair of eyebrows and goatee on the old turtle, and while it shared the same yellow pupils, its black irises were much softer and wiser than the latter.

What really got Sans’ attention was his backpack in the fish’s grip, more importantly, his journal in her scaly hand. “Hey!”

“What?” The fish and turtle turned to the foreign voice, where their eyes had locked upon Sans and Papyrus.

The old turtle seemed somewhat surprised to see Sans and Papyrus. “Well, would you look at that.”

The fish, however, her eyes grew as wide as saucers while her mouth hung slightly open. “Humans.”

Her flash of shock soon transformed into an insane grin as she turned to the old turtle, excitement dancing in her eyes. “Humans! There are humans here!”

She practically forgot about the backpack and journal she had been holding as she flung them behind her, running towards the still Papyrus and Sans. “I’ll kill them faster than you can blink, Gerson! Just you watch!”

“What?!” Papyrus flinched before madly dashing off when the fish had given her war-cry, which consisted of her screaming.

Sans was left to watch the fish run past him and after Papyrus, wondering if he should help or let them be. He didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter when he heard splashing come his way, turning just in time to see the old turtle walk over.

In one of his clawed hands he held Sans’ backpack, but his eyes were the most enticing to Sans. There was decades of wisdom and knowledge in those eyes, but was somewhat skeptical and a little crazy. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had a human come down this way. The journey must have been hard.”

He lightly offered the backpack. “I believe this is yours?”

“Yeah.” Sans took the soaking backpack, a frown slipping onto his face as he worried what might have been ruined thanks to the water. He then remembered that the old turtle was before him. “Oh, thanks.”

“Not a problem. I can’t see what we would do with things like those in there.” There looked to be a twinkle in the old turtle’s eyes.

“Name’s Gerson, but you might have heard Undyne shout it earlier. She’s a riot isn’t she? Wahaha!”

Sans lightly chuckled, though that was drowned out by the mixing of Undyne and Papyrus’ screams. One of horror, the other of bloodshed. “I’m Sans.”

Sans hesitantly looked back but Gerson caught his attention by gesturing a hand. “Don’t worry about them. Undyne won’t hurt him too much.”

He then motioned with his head, turning his body around. “Come, why don’t we find somewhere to sit while those two young ones play?”

Sans reluctantly followed Gerson, still hearing Papyrus shout while Undyne didn’t let up on her war-cry. They trudged to a spot near dry land where the screams weren’t as piercing, with Gerson waving Sans over to a small picnic table with two seats elevated out of the water. “You must be tired from all the walking you must have done.”

“Try running.” Sans remarked with a light chuckle, setting his backpack down on the table and taking a seat while Gerson did the same.

Again Sans looked back when he heard Papyrus shout, ‘not the exercise dvds!’, but again Gerson reassured him as he spoke. “Undyne may be powerful but a child she still is. She still has a lot of learning and practice to obtain before she’s ready to take any human’s soul.”

Sans turned back around in his chair to see Gerson close his eyes. “Why, just a month ago King Fluffybuns decided to take her in and train her. Stubborn fish lips won’t give up until she can beat that old king.”

Upon hearing the nickname a memory sparked inside Sans mind. “I heard two young bunnies call Asgore the same thing.”

“Hm?” Gerson opened his eyes before laughing.“So you know Mary and Carrie, eh? Energetic little bunnies, aren’t they? Why, they sometimes come down here to hear stories of old and about the Great War.”

“The Great War?” Sans mind buzzed. “You know about it?”

“Know about it?” Gerson gave Sans a sly smile. “How old do you think I am? I was a warrior in that war, back when my back was straight that is, Wahaha!”

“So you know what happened?” Sans leaned more onto the table, as if the news would escape his presence never to be seen again.

“You interested to know?” Gerson had closed his eyes once more, leaning back in his chair but cracked one eye open to train on Sans.

Sans eagerly nodded his head, then unzipped the main compartment of his backpack. “I have a lot of questions, actually. If only I could find it…”

Sans shook his head. “Just, wow… You must be like, hundreds of years old. How are you still-”

Gerson raised a hand. “I ain’t no celebrity, Sans. Just an old monster who lived a good life, so don’t treat me like some new toy.”

“Oh, sorry.” Sans tried to keep some of his enthusiasm bottled up, pulling out what he was looking for. Gerson sat straight up when he noticed the item on the table, or more importantly, a photo album.

He eyed Sans suspiciously, his tone sly. “That’s an odd thing for a human to pack whose end goal is to reach the surface again, isn’t it.”

“Heh, what can I say? I’m sentimental.” Sans half-shrugged, but saw that Gerson was looking right through him.

Sans took a nervous gulp, hand resting on the album. “Anyways, there’s something I want to talk about specifically.”

“And what might that be, Sans?” Gerson rested his elbows on the table, interested now more than he ever was with the conversation.

Sans’ eyes darted away, before back to Gerson. “I want to know about my ancestors. My monster ancestors.”


	10. Level 9

“Just take the pitchfork!!”

“No!”

Undyne clenched her fists harder when staring up at Papyrus, who she had cornered in the same room Sans and Gerson were in. He held his stick out and waved it whenever Undyne got close, eyes darting madly for an escape.

In one of Undyne’s fists she held a green fork, trying to give it to Papyrus but he responded with a wave of his stick. “Ngah, I want this to be a fair fight!! How am I supposed to prove that monsters are stronger than humans if I kill you now?!”

“Don’t kill me! That’s a strong move!”

“You two having fun over there?” Undyne turned her head back when Gerson called out to them. Sans was also looking upon the scene, a little worried for his brother even with Gerson’s constant reassurance.

“He won’t take the pitchfork!!” Undyne yelled in anger, eyes quickly darting back to Papyrus when she heard him move. He froze again in his stance.

“Aw, now that’s not very fun, is it?” Gerson lifted a hand to his mouth, shouting. “Just humor her, sonny! I promise fish lips won’t do you in!”

“Easy for you to say over there!” Papyrus shouted back, stifling a quick gasp when he saw Undyne smack the stick out of his hands. It plopped into the nearby water, and before Papyrus could blink Undyne had placed the green fork in his hand.

She backed up triumphantly. “Yes! Now that you have my pitchfork-”

Papyrus shoved the fork into Undyne’s face. “This is a fork!”

Undyne’s face went red. “No it’s not! It’s a miniature pitchfork, perfect for dealing with weak humans like you!”

With a flick of her wrist a blue fork zapped into existence to which she took into both of her hands. She bent lightly forward to show Papyrus even more blue forks floating behind her.

She grinned. “Now we can fight!”

Sans flinched as he watched his brother horribly fail to dodge the forks, but it didn’t look as though they were doing him a lot of damage.

“Hey Gerson, throw the other human over here!” Undyne excitedly turned back to look at him, as if the notion of him watching pumped her adrenaline. “I want to show you how strong I am!”

“I got this one, Undyne, don’t worry about him.” Sans looked back over to Gerson, who was eyeing him slyly. “We’re playing a mind game.”

“A mind game?” Undyne let her arms drop for a second before she pulled them closer to her chest. “That sounds brutal!! You’ll have to teach me after I’m done with this one!!”

“Might want to pay attention to yours first.” Gerson pointed ahead of Undyne, and it was at that moment when she heard frantic splashing.

She turned back around to notice Papyrus darting back towards where they first landed, with Undyne and her army of forks pursuing. “Hey! I didn’t say you can run!!”

Sans heard Gerson laugh as Undyne went to fetch Papyrus, prompting Sans to turn back in his chair. Gerson kept one of his elbows on the table. “I haven’t seen Undyne this riled up since she used to follow me around and watch me beat up baddies.”

Gerson slouched back in his chair, giving a light groan with it as if to relieve some pain in his back. “But those are days of old. Now your question though…”

A claw lightly touched Sans’ photo album, with Gerson having one eye opened once more. “Your question is very old. You believe you have monster ancestors?”

Sans shook his head. “No, I know we have monster ancestors. Things wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t.”

“Such as?” Gerson still kept only one eye cracked open, which meant to Sans that he didn’t fully believe him.

Hand moving from the photo album, Sans lifted the book up and frantically searched through the pages, trying to find what he knew was there. “Where is it…”

His hand almost flipped to another page but froze while Sans’ eyebrows lurched, digging the photo out of its encasement. He lifted it up gingerly before showing it to Gerson. “Like this photo. My mom told me that this was a photo taken long ago of my ancestors, but…”

Gerson sat up to get a better look at the picture, its paper washed out with browns, grays and blacks. The edges were starting to crumble, but the more important part was the picture. It was a tall, chubby woman, who had bent over and held two young boys beneath her. They were both dressed formally as if they were prepared for the picture, and several other people were in the background doing their own thing. It would have been flawless, except for the fact that the top left was completely cut away, and the shorter one of the two boys’ eyes seemed to be staring at something that wasn’t there anymore.

Sans took the photo back when Gerson had looked long enough, cradling the picture as if it would turn to dust and blow away. “Mom says she received the photo like this and that she was assured there was nothing in that missing spot, but I can’t help but wonder what was torn off.”

“Your mom could be right; it could be nothing.” Gerson laid back in his chair, while watching Sans put the photo away.

He shook his head stubbornly. “No, that wouldn’t make sense. Why would one of the boys be looking at nothing? And there’s so many people in the background, it doesn’t look like a planned event.”

“Is that all the evidence you have?” Gerson asked, deciding to switch subjects which jarred Sans for a moment.

He searched his brain for some more evidence to convince Gerson that what he was saying wasn’t foolish. “Well what about when I was with Mary and Carrie. They told me the lullaby I knew was the royal monster lullaby.”

“You still sing yourself to sleep with a lullaby?” It was a tease, but Gerson didn’t laugh at his own joke. “The Queen used to sing that to all the monster children back before the war, before she had her son.”

“How about this?” Sans pointed to his blue eye.

Gerson smiled. “That’s a nice eye color you have there. Whose side of the family?”

“My mom’s.” Sans felt his eyes dart to the table below him. “She has blue eyes like this, and my grandpa had orange eyes like Papyrus.”

“Mmm I don’t know much about humans, but I know orange isn’t an eye color for your species.” Gerson started to sit up, getting more invested with the conversation. “You two born that way?”

“Actually no. Our eyes changed when we got hit with something.” Sans frowned, trying to make sense of the scene before. “It was like a bomb, but it exploded into different colors. I couldn’t breathe, and my bones felt on fire.”

Gerson didn’t respond so quickly, giving a deep hum as if to verbally say, ‘I’m thinking’. “That’s interesting.”

“What is?” Sans’ eyes darted back up to Gerson, desperate for any information.

“You and your brother were hit with a magic amplifying bomb. It’s the Royal Guard’s newest weapon, courtesy of ol’ Wingdings. When the bomb explodes it’s supposed to expel a bunch of magic into whoever is nearby, making their attacks wild and uncontrollable. The Guard says it’s supposed to stun them so that they can capture bad monsters, but I think the bomb is just a bad idea, Wahaha!”

Sans frowned. “Why not make a bomb that cuts off magic?”

“That’s what I asked, too! ‘That’s too complicated’ was all Wingdings said. Sometimes I wonder if he just likes to see his crazy ideas get built and taken seriously.”

The old turtle gave Sans a soft smile, but it also looked apologetic. “You must have run into Sagiv by now, haven’t you?”

Sans gritted his teeth and decided to stare at the garbage beside them, which was all the Gerson needed to know. “He prides himself on being the head of the Royal Guard; no one quicker to draw his blade than him. Well, maybe not the only one.”

His eyes shifted to Undyne, but Sans didn’t get the moment to turn his head and look at where Gerson was glancing before he drew him back in. “You’ll have to forgive him for being so hostile. He fought in the war when he was no older than you. He learned a lot of things through it, bad things…”

Gerson sat up, both eyes opening. “But that’s not the main subject of our conversation. No, let’s talk ancestors.”

“So you believe me?” Sans felt a blossom of hope swell inside his chest, his smile returning.

Gerson batted a claw. “Oh I’ve known since I first laid eyes on you two, I just wanted to see how much you believed it yourself. You both reek of magic, so maybe I should say when I first smelled you two, Wahaha!!”

Sans lost his smile as quickly as it appeared. “What do you mean?”

Gerson shook his head. “I mean that the monster part within you has taken a calling to all that magic that was floating around in that bomb. Should you have never encountered monster magic, I would say that you two would live a normal, human life. But now that something inside of you has awoken-!”

Gerson held up a claw, but not to Sans. “I’m getting ahead of myself. To understand the present, you must understand the past.

“Now, I’m an old turtle. I remember a lot of things, but sadly I forget just as much too, so I apologize if this isn’t very clear. Now I would hope you know what happened in the war. Monsters and Humans fought, the humans won and drove us down underground. But before we left, there was an issue with dividing people.

“See, not all humans stayed with their kind. There was a lot of fraternizing between monsters and humans before the war, so-”

“Whoa, whoa.” Sans held up his hands, cutting Gerson off. He looked a little miffed Sans had stopped his discussion, who still kept his hands up. “Fraternizing? I mean, aren’t monsters made of magic? So how uh…”

Gerson folded his arms. “You want me to talk about the birds and the bees?”

When Sans gave an uncomfortable look back Gerson let his annoyance blow away with his chuckles. “What are they teaching you kids up there these days? Ok, so I hope you would know how humans reproduce, yes? Well, monsters do relatively the same thing, only with our magic. Let’s call it ‘baby magic’. Now combining normal attacks together won’t make a monster, only when a male and a female monster come together and use that ‘baby magic’ can a baby monster be conceived. And if you’re wondering, they squeal and whine about as much as human babies do.”

“Then how can a human and monster come together?” Sans was still confused.

Gerson leaned lightly back in his chair. “Now there’s a question many humans and monsters have been pondering for awhile. You see, contrary to belief, humans do have magic. It’s very small, but they do hold something within themselves similar to what we have. When a human and a monster come together, the monster simply draws some of that magic out of the human and into the ‘baby magic’, but it takes a lot more magic from the monster in order to create a child. And even then, sometimes they aren’t stable, depending on how much magic was drawn from the human. Too little, and they revert into monsters like their monster parents or the monster in question fades to dust from drawing too much magic out of themselves. Too much and the child will be stable, but the human parent dies from having too much magic drawn from them.

“Anyways, big issue that arose when the war was over was where the monster-human children would go. The parents who fraternized with monsters were to be executed, but who could say what child would turn into a monster and who wouldn’t? Only us monsters could tell, but they wanted their children on the surface.”

Sans felt confused. “But wait, how were the humans able to make a barrier strong enough to keep the monsters trapped? Did they have access to their magic?”

“They did.” Gerson nodded his head. “Humans had access to magic back then, but it mostly came from the weapons they used, not from within. True, they do have magic in their souls but it’s relatively small compared to a monster’s magic, so they need the aid of a staff of enchanted item to draw upon it. Monsters draw from their souls, humans draw it from the item they use. But back to my story.

“It wasn’t until, oh, what was his name.” Gerson rubbed his goatee. “He had the silliest mustache I had ever seen. Anyways, Mr. silly mustache decided that since they couldn’t tell who would change they would divide the children according to how they appeared at the moment. Smart, isn’t he.”

Gerson took a moment to chuckle. “As if you could tell who was monster and who wasn’t by how they looked. But in all seriousness, a lot of families were divided because of it. The children that looked human were kept with relatives on the surface, while any with unusual features were forced to leave with the monsters. However, the two biggest cases I bared witness to were the spiders and skeletons.

“Now, the humans had a very hard time coming to a decision with these two. Both humans that had fraternized were from high-standing houses, and their children looked relatively normal. Some humans wanted the children on the surface so that they could carry on their respective houses; others wanted them banished for being impure. Us monsters could see that the children had powerful magic coursing through them, but where they would go wasn’t our place to say.

“Finally a decision was made. The skeleton children were to be kept on the surface with relatives, but the spiders however were banished. I guess they would have preferred the children turning into skeletons over giant spiders.”

Sans shuddered at the thought of giant spiders rampaging through a stereotypical city.

“So does that mean…?” Sans felt a hand slowly go to his chest, fear steadily crawling up his back. His bones felt like they were pressing too hard against his skin.

Gerson shook his head. “Now don’t panic on me, Sans. Just because I talked about that case doesn’t mean they were the only children to stay on the surface. There were other, less involved cases were monster children were kept above ground. The only thing we can say for certain is that you and your brother are descendents of the children who were kept on the surface, and now the monster part in you is trying to come out.”

Sans took a hard swallow, for once finding it hard to speak. “T-Trying to come… out?”

Gerson had a look on his face that said he wasn’t kidding. “I’m afraid so. Now I’m not a scientist, so I don’t have an explanation as to why this is happening or really if you will turn into a monster or not. Maybe nothing will happen because the part of you that’s monster is so tiny from several generations of humans in your ancestral tree.”

He then shook his head, as if he were apologetic. “But I can’t say for certain what will happen. Those spider children I talked about earlier? Well, they transformed into monsters after being around magic for so long. They even forgot who they were after awhile once their human soul completely transformed into a monster soul.”

Gerson rasped a few claws on the table. “And the skeletons? Well, I don’t know what went down on the surface, but one of them returned to the Underground. A few monster-children did that actually, from either being chased to the mountain by angry villagers or wanting to go back to their people. It was a dark time, really.”

Gerson let out a light groan, as if his long talk had winded him. “Now, I don’t know why you came down here.”

He eyed Sans backpack. “But I can’t believe that you falling down here was an accident. If you want my advice, I would head home. You two still have a chance to leave while your human souls are intact. But you should change into a monster, well… you won’t be seeing sunlight or your family for a long time.”

Sans felt his eyes move down to the table once more, where his hand still promptly rested on the photo album. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

The sound of grunting and splashing water soon turned Gerson and Sans’ attention back over to Papyrus and Undyne, who had brought themselves back into their view. Undyne was throwing more and more forks at Papyrus from all sides, while the teenager was getting the hang of dodging with his green fork and continuing to move.

“You’re not bad, human!” Undyne cried out, her breathing heavy as she continued to throw her glowing forks. “This will only make your defeat that much sweeter when you fall!”

“Nyeh, try and best the Great Papyrus!” Papyrus yelled back, turning half around to hit one of the blue forks with his green one. “I could do this all day!”

“Nice brother you have there.” Sans turned back around in his chair from Gerson’s comment.

He was smiling more sincerely now, as if the heavy tension from before never happened. “He seems to be getting the hang of Undyne’s attacks.”

Sans felt a small smile form on his lips. “Heh, Papyrus was always a fast learner.”

“That so?” Gerson was a bit surprised when Sans moved his hand off of the photo album and flipped it open.

Sans gave a soft look back. “Yeah, Papyrus was the athlete in our family. He was good at any sport or athletic he tried.”

In turning to one page Sans couldn’t help but chuckle. “One time Papyrus tried to impress a cheerleader that he had a crush on at our middle school.”

“So he became a football player?” Gerson asked.

Sans laughed. “Nah, he joined the cheerleading squad.”

He then held up the page for Gerson to see, in which it was a photo for the Bobcats Middle School Cheerleading team. There were 14 girls all dressed in their uniforms, with Papyrus in the middle doing a split and his arms raised in the air, a look of pure bliss on his face. The other cheerleaders in the photo looked less enthusiastic.

Gerson couldn’t help but laugh too. “Wahaha! I’m sure he attracted a lot of girls that way.”

“Oh he attracted attention.” Sans’ smile slightly waivered, but he thoughts turned to something happier. “He also took a lot of dance classes in high school. Dad was never a fan but he became pretty popular with the dance club. Bro can dance any dance you ask.”

Gerson hesitantly lifted his hand up. “Would you mind?”

Sans shrugged, giving Gerson the photo album. “I don’t.”

“Thank you.” Gerson started at the beginning, absentmindedly flipping through the photos and chuckling when he saw fit. Sans couldn’t help but get up and stand behind the old turtle, pointing at certain photos and telling him in detail of the memories him and Papyrus shared.

There was the time Papyrus had brought home a sick cat on a rainy day when he was 11 and the two kept the cat until their mom found it and had an allergic reaction. He took a photo of the day he found a trash bag full of leaves in Papyrus’ room when he was 14 and it led to the two of them talking all night about how his coach was harassing him in class for never putting his full force into his swings when they did boxing. And who could forget the day the two tried to open up their own hotdog stand just two summers ago that got rained out?

But while there were so many Papyrus photos, there were a few where Sans had been the victim to the elusive camera. He told stories of his 6th Halloween and how Papyrus dressed him up as a princess so that he could be a knight and tote him around saying he was his sister so they would get extra candy. There was the time when the two tried out for the school talent show by dressing up as skeletons and doing a comedy skit, where they got third for Papyrus’ hilarious reactions. And Sans winced a little when looking at the photo of his early years in high school and how he took up band while Papyrus joined choir. The two never went back after the first year.

Sans hadn’t laughed so hard in a while.

Gerson gently closed the back of the book when he had gone through all the photos, handing it back to Sans. “Well, it seems to me that you love your brother a lot.”

He took it gently and placed it back in his backpack, nodding his head. “He’s the only friend I have, really.”

“Well, I would hold onto that bond you two have for as long as you can.” Gerson placed his hands on the table, a warm smile present for Sans to see. “You never know what might come and take it away.”

As if hitting Sans himself the teenager’s mood seemed to darken. His eyes shifted away and his smile fell, muttering. “Yeah…”

Gerson gave a puzzled expression, about to ask if something was wrong when Undyne had bounded her way over, screaming at the top of her lungs. “GERSON, I DID IT!”

Gerson’s attention shifted over to Undyne as he gave her a teasing smile with a cocked eyebrow. “And what might you have done, Undyne?”

Her grin was only more frightening with her sharp teeth. “I beat the human!! Now he knows how strong us monsters are!!”

For a moment, Sans believed that Undyne had killed his brother. He was about to leap from his chair and find his brother when Papyrus had walked over to his chair, resting half of his body over the top and onto Sans.

He breathed heavily; apparently Undyne had wiped him out. “Ok… your turn to fight the fish.”

Gerson slapped a hand on his knee. “Wahaha! So you did fish lips, congrats.”

He ruffled her matted, red hair. “I’m very proud of you, Undyne.”

Undyne flashed a bigger grin, her hands reaching up to hold his. “Just wait till I grow older, Gerson! I’ll be the head of the Royal Guard, kicking a lot more bad-guy butt than you!”

“Well then, I can’t wait for the day I get to trail you around while you beat up bad guys.”

Both monsters shared a nice chuckle and from where Papyrus and Sans sat they could almost feel the warmth radiating off of them.

When her laughter ceased Undyne, with her clenched fists brought them up to her chest. “Now teach me that mind trick you used on the fat human!”

Sans frowned for a second, then rolled his eyes. He wasn’t going to deny the truth, but Gerson only lightly chuckled. “Alright, if we must. But not in front of them, you don’t want them catching on do you?”

Undyne’s eyes darted to the two of them before back at Gerson eagerly. “Nah, I want to hit them where they least expect it!”

Triumphantly Undyne threw her hands into the air as Gerson helped himself out of his seat. “That’s the spirit, fish lips.”

He motioned with his head. “Come along now, I’ll teach it to you in my shop.”

Undyne bolted out of the water and down the stone path as if to race Gerson there, who only shook his head silently. With a simple turn he bid the two humans farewell with a smile. “Stop by my shop any time, you two, and good luck on your journey.”

He started to walk off when the old turtle seemed to remember something. “Oh, and Papyrus?”

Papyrus was a bit confused as to why this turtle knew his name, but he soon figured out why when he looked back with a teasing smile. “Next time you drop by, I want to hear about middle school from you.”

He then walked off with a chuckle to where Undyne had disappeared, leaving Sans and Papyrus to look at one another for a brief moment.

Papyrus gave Sans a deadpanned look. “You told him about me being a cheerleader, didn’t you.”

Sans grinned and looked away. “What can I say, bro? I got ‘pumped’ to tell it.”

What words to describe Papyrus’ face. To put it simply the teenager pushed off of the chair and stomped over to one of the garbage piles, leaving Sans to snicker in his seat.

When Papyrus had calmed down and Sans was able to carrel him over, the two left the deep water for dry land.

Their shoes squeaked and squished from being completely soaked, and both boys had to take off their socks from how much water they retained. Sans decided to sit on a rock elevated from the ground while Papyrus merely leaned against it, wringing out their socks and trying to dry them by flapping them up and down.

“Water, why did it have to be water we fell in.” Papyrus grumbled, flapping his socks the hardest while Sans barely moved his.

“You wanted it to be rocks?” Sans cocked an eyebrow at his brother, who merely looked away. “I fell in the water but I’m not complaining.”

“Do you ever complain?” Papyrus stopped moving his socks, his face puzzled as if he was having to seriously think over his own question.

Sans smiled. “That’s ok, you do enough complaining for the both of us.”

“Oh haha. You’re hilarious, Sans.” Papyrus shot Sans a light glare, but he only smiled back.

“Thanks for noticing.”

When Sans gazed out in front of him something new had appeared from all the water falling and rocks. A figure was poorly hiding itself behind one of the smaller rocks, its head turned away and dark, scaly body hunched, but Sans felt it was looking at them.

“Hey, Papyrus.” Sans whispered, getting his brother’s attention.

Papyrus angled his head down before looking over to where Sans was pointing, easily spotting the monster that was hiding from them. Sans felt himself regret pointing the monster out though as he watched the color drain from Papyrus’ face, hand going for his pocket but remembering that Undyne had chucked his stick.

He watched Papyrus in what he might do, but he just stood there. Finally his head turned wearily to look at him, as if expecting Sans to take the lead. “You uh… want to go talk to them?”

“Talk?” Sans was a little baffled to what Papyrus was asking, cocking an eyebrow. “Since when are you willing to interact with monsters?”

Papyrus’ eyes darted away, a light blush coming to his cheeks. “Well, I’ve been starting to notice that uh…”

His voice grew soft and quick. “These monsters are sort of friendly.”

Sans’ could feel his eyebrow go higher on his head, sprouting a smile. He opened his mouth to retaliate.

Papyrus soon held up a hand to cut Sans off. “I know, brother, you must be asking yourself, ‘why is my awesome older brother, the Great Papyrus, even suggesting such a thing? Monsters are scary!’ Well settle down, my chubby brother; for I have been observing the monsters and can safely say that only half of them want us dead! That’s like, 50%!”

Sans’ smile deepened, getting more comfortable on the rock. “Is that so, Papyrus.”

“Hm, yes, I know this must be challenging for you to wrap your head around.” Papyrus held a hand to his chest, pressing a wet sock onto his shirt. “I know it took me awhile to guess that 100 minus 50… is another 50! But facts are facts Sans, so there’s a 50% chance of that monster attacking us!

“But I, of course, know that it won’t.”

“Well then, why don’t you go and demonstrate?”

Papyrus’ body grew stiff, his eyes wide as they darted over to Sans. “Excuse me.”

Sans by now was thoroughly enjoying this, having gotten out his journal to finally put down some logs and sketches. “You heard me, go and talk to that monster. I know the Great Papyrus is never wrong, but I’m too scared to go and talk to them, like you said.”

“Er, yes. Like I said.” Papyrus let his hand drop with his wet sock, looking to where it stained his shirt before over to the hiding monster.

Sans could practically smell the fear smoking off his still brother, but he encouraged him with a wave of his hand. “Go on. Teach me to not be scared of monsters.”

Papyrus, his ego too big for him to back down straightened his back and proclaimed. “Alright, I will!”

He got a few strides in before basically coming to a halt again, body stiffening and legs unable to work.

Timidly Papyrus looked back to Sans, who was more concerned with his journal at the moment than actually watching. Sans knew Papyrus practicing getting friendly with the monsters would help them on their journey, but Papyrus on the other hand knew he had made a grave mistake.

What if this monster attacked him? Even with his awesome muscles there would be no way for him to fend for himself with just his walkman. And really he would rather not destroy his precious machine.

Still, he didn’t want to disappoint Sans, and Papyrus never failed at anything! Except math, that was an exception.

Taking a deep breath, Papyrus slowly walked himself over to where the monster hid. He could tell it knew he was coming the more it hunched to try and hide its body.

With only a few feet between them, Papyrus cleared his throat, only to speak with a squeaky, stuttering voice. “E-excuse m-me…”

The monster didn’t turn to look at him, but it did suppress a soft gasp. Scaly arms were raised above their head in an attempt to become even more invisible to Papyrus, lightly humming a tune to ease its mind.

Papyrus flinched back as if he had anticipated an attack from the monster, but merely it was just trying to hide itself even more. He then straightened back up, nervously looking over to Sans who had looked up from his journal.

He gave Papyrus a big grin and nodded his head for him to continue. Papyrus took a gulp, took a deep breath, and tried again. “Uh, hello… monster. I don’t wish to harm you but-”

His voice was quickly drowned out when the monster, who was shaking now, starting to hum even louder. Papyrus grew a little irritated. “Hey, I’m just trying to talk to you. You don’t-”

But the humming got louder, so loud in fact that Sans stopped writing in his journal to watch the scene unsuccessfully fold out. Oh dear.

Sans felt an itch on his cheek that he scratched, hoping he wouldn’t have to step in and solve this. He focused himself back to his journal, telling himself that if he heard Papyrus shriek he would rush over.

Papyrus on the other hand was getting very annoyed with this monster, trying to make his voice heard through all the humming but every time he spoke louder the monster would match it with its hum. Soon the only noise in the area was Papyrus screaming, a monster humming so loud it could break glass, and rushing water.

“Oh… this is very loud…”

Papyrus almost didn’t hear the soft-spoken voice if he hadn’t needed to breathe through all his yelling. The humming died down too when the air before them started to take shape, a pale white blossoming into existence.

A ghost the height of a child made itself known to the two, its eyes sullen and sunken while its mouth seemed to be cast in an eternal frown. Papyrus flinched once more when the spirit showed itself, but the scaly monster seemed rather pleased.

It cooed something before slithering over and behind the spirit, still keeping its face angled away from Papyrus. The ghost looked to the monster than over to Papyrus. “Oh… now you guys stopped… I’m sorry… you two were probably having so much fun yelling until I came along…”

The monster soon spoke, though its voice was more of singing than speaking. Papyrus decided that through the high-pitched wail that it was a female, and its voice was rather pretty. Though the body could be said otherwise.

The ghost paid more attention to the female monster for the moment. “Really…Ok… I will try…”

Eyes then drifting back to Papyrus, the ghost floated over to where he stood. Papyrus backed up a bit, wondering if the ghost was perhaps one of the fallen humans come back for revenge. “Excuse me-”

“St-stay away from me!” Papyrus yelled, though upon tripping over his feet he fell backwards and at the mercy of the ghost.

The ghost however didn’t seemed fazed, its eyes having no need to blink. “Sorry… I’m a nuisance, aren’t I...”

“You’re a ghost!”

“I am...”

Papyrus expected this unholy spirit to do something, like they usually did in all those horror movies he watched. You know, drag him through a wall, turn the lights on and off, wail with the normal ‘ooooo’.

Apparently this ghost hadn’t got the memo on what it was supposed to do, Papyrus surmised as he looked the ghost up and down. Or perhaps… it was friendly? Like that old ghost movie he used to watch with a friendly ghost and his uncles?

Papyrus now wondered if the ghost had uncles.

Knowing that he wasn’t in danger anymore Papyrus sat himself up, eyebrow cocked and mouth slightly open. “You’re not going to hurt me?”

“No...” The ghost turned its body back to the monster for a second and then to Papyrus. “Shyren says that you and your friend are sitting on her rock… She likes to sit there so… could you please move…”

“The rock?” Papyrus gazed back over to where Sans sat, who was busying himself with writing in his journal. Papyrus frowned, he was supposed to be learning from him!

His eyes then shifted back over to the ghost, giving him an awkward shrug. “Isn’t there another rock she can sit on? We’re sort of…airing our laundry.”

“Oh…” The ghost didn’t look fazed, but its voice got softer. “Sorry for interrupting then…”

Shyren brought her fins up to her face, and it took Papyrus almost half a minute of just staring at them awkwardly before what they meant finally reached his brain. “What? No! We’re literally airing our laundry!”

He held up his wet socks as proof to his words. “You two are gross!”

“Oh…” Was the ghost starting to cry? “I’m so bad at reading people... I should just leave…”

The ghost then started to fade away, though its eyes caught Papyrus’ walkman. “What’s that…”

“What’s what?” For such large eyes Papyrus couldn’t see what the ghost was referring to, nor did the ghost have any arms to point at it.

In seeing the problem Shyren slowly slithered out from behind the ghost, keeping her back to Papyrus still and using her fin to point at his walkman.

Papyrus eyed his walkman for a second, unclipping it from his pocket. “This? It’s my walkman.”

“Walkman…” The ghost felt as though it were speaking in a foreign tongue. “Is it your pet…”

“What? No.” Without noticing Papyrus stood back up, one of his hands slipping his headphones on while the other held his walkman so that he could press the play button easily. “It’s a music player. You put tapes of music inside and the music plays through these headphones.”

“Really…” The ghost, who voice was like tissue paper blowing in the wind seemed more eager to stick around and talk, inching closer to Papyrus. “Is it like a record player…”

“Kind of?” Papyrus eyed the ghost playfully. “Are you telling me all you have is a record player?”

“Is that bad…” The ghost glanced to Papyrus, then back down at the fascination in his hands.

Papyrus scoffed, then with a teasing smile took off his headphones and held them out for the ghost. “Here, listen to this.”

“Ok...” The ghost moved itself over to where the headphones were, phasing himself into them so that they rested on either side of his body.

He looked to Papyrus questionably. “…Like this…”

“Yeah!” Papyrus, not thinking that perhaps the ghost might not have ears, gave a thumbs up before pressing the play button on his walkman.

For a few seconds all three of them just stood there, with Papyrus holding the walkman. He had forgotten what song he stopped on when Sans had woken up forever ago, but the ghost didn’t seem to notice.

Its eyes grew a bit bigger, its mouth opening into a small o. “Oh…”

“Awesome, right?” Papyrus smiled, as if he was waiting for the approval of the ghost.

The ghost nodded with his body. “It’s so…amazing….”

Shyren looked from Papyrus to the ghost with the back of her head, slightly confused and feeling a bit left out. Papyrus expected the song was over, for the ghost soon took off the headphones. They floated back over to where Papyrus stood, who plucked them out of thin air. “Thank you for showing me that… I have never heard music like that before...”

“Well, you just so happened to hear only the best songs.” Papyrus stood a little more proudly, hand with his wet sock finding itself back to his chest. “I only listen to the best music.”

“I hope something like that floats down the river…”

Papyrus let his hand fall, eyes going back over to the ghost. “Wait, they don’t sell walkmans down here?”

“No… all we get is the trash from the humans...” The ghost moved slightly to the right, as if to point with his body where the two came from. “My cousins and I sort through it daily but never have I found anything like that…. I hope to one day though…”

Hearing how hopeful the ghost’s voice was, Papyrus soon found himself looking grimly down at his walkman, then back to the ghost. He took a deep breath, smiled and then held the walkman out. “Well then, today is your lucky day! For I, the Great Papyrus, will let you have my walkman and headphones!”

“Really…” The ghost’s eyes got wide again, turning their body away. “Oh, I couldn’t… I would hate to take that away from you…”

“Nonsense! I insist!” Papyrus eagerly ran over to where the ghost had turned its body, holding the walkman and headphones out again. “I can always buy another, but you can’t. So please, take it.”

“…” The ghost looked as though it would cry again, and suddenly the walkman floated from Papyrus’ hands. The yellow headphones fit snug around the ghost’s body, as the walkman floated nearby.

It was his small smile though that got Papyrus. “Thank you… I don’t know how I could repay your kindness…”

“Well…” Papyrus lightly blushed back, feeling the need to tug on his shirt as if to ventilate the hot air. “I really don’t need anything.”

“I doubt anything I could give you would be just as great…”

It was Shyren who then moved back over to the ghost, and Papyrus had noticed that she was now turning towards him. She looked to have a floating fish for a head and a scaly body underneath, with swamp green hair and closed slits for eyes. She smiled when looking at Papyrus.

“Oh… that’s nice…” The ghost listened to her quiet voice, then gazed over at Papyrus. “Shyren wants to sing for you… if that’s ok…”

“A song? For me?” Papyrus felt a warm sensation blossom in his heart, his blush getting darker. “Nyeh, I suppose a song would be nice.”

Finding a nice spot to sit, Papyrus brought his knees to his chest and rested his head on said knees. Shyren brought a fin to what Papyrus thought was her chest, jagged mouth opening to showing empty darkness.

The ghost floated over to where Papyrus sat, deciding to lay on the floor with the walkman near his side. They waited for Shyren to start, who seemed hesitant now to do so. Papyrus gestured lightly with his fingers as if to encourage her, and with a light blush Shyren started to sing.

Papyrus wasn’t expecting to see the visible notes waft up from her throat and out of her mouth, but somehow it made the scene before him even gentler. Her voice was a little high-pitched for his liking, but when tuning that part out the song itself was a pretty tune. He nodded his head in accordance to the tocks he set in his mind that went with the song, eyes closed.

This feeling… how long had it been since he hung out with other beings beside his brother? It was… nice.

The warmth in Papyrus’ heart seemed to swell in accordance to his thoughts, his eyes fiery but in a nice, comforting way.

Sans, who had taken to biting his lip and staring hungrily at his journal was snapped from his deep thinking when he heard singing. He turned his head up and over to where Papyrus sat, noticing the little scene and how serene his brother looked.

Sans felt a small chuckle bubble up from his chest and out into the room, shaking his head lightly. He was glad one of them wasn’t worrying anymore.

But that simple light-hearted laugh soon dissipated when Sans could feel his muscles tightening, his eyes attached to his left arm. His bones felt like they were growing again; constricting against his skin. He absentmindedly scratched his arm and went back to his journal, wondering what was in store for them next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka, the exposition chapter.


	11. Level 10

_Papyrus didn’t know when or how, but he had seemed to drift asleep while listening to Shyren sing. His body floated in perpetual darkness until it was pulled into a memory his mind sparked, finding himself standing in his parent’s room._

_The walls were covered with dull flower wallpaper, where he could see a few spots of the paper slowly peeling down from the top of the wall. At the end of the floral covered bed was a wooden table, and upon it was one of the two television sets they owned in the house. It was a few months old, a splurge his mom and dad decided to have, even the knobs on the side of it weren’t worn out like the one downstairs. A few potted plants were put in the corners of the room, but what Papyrus remembered most about the room was the tall, wooden bookshelf his father owned; littered with popular sci-fi and horror books from famous authors._

_His yellow polo shirt and shorts were gone for a military outfit, his body reflecting back at him through a full body mirror he stood in front of. Papyrus couldn’t help but smile when looking at himself, fidgeting with the suit so that it fit right in all places._

_“Looks good, doesn’t it.”_

_Papyrus noticed another figure appear in the mirror, prompting him to turn his head behind him. His father, who wore a casual button-up shirt and jeans smiled sweetly to his oldest son, something Papyrus didn’t see often._

_“Yeah.” Papyrus nodded his head as his father came over; tugging on the arms and legs to make sure they were fitting right._

_His father chuckled. “Your mother kept asking why I kept this old suit after so long, but I knew that one of you boys would take up the mantel for it someday.”_

_He stood back up after having crouched to check on the legs. “And I couldn’t be more proud it was you, Punan.”_

_Papyrus awkwardly looked away. “Nyeh, thanks dad. But uh… could you call me Papyrus? I sort of like it more.”_

_His father’s eyebrow lightly twitched, then he shook his head. “Punan, isn’t it time you started to grow up?”_

_He inched closer to Papyrus, resting an arm around his shoulder. “See, the only reason I called you Papyrus when you were younger was because your mother thought it would be cute to go by your middle names. You were children, and children like to have a lot of nicknames.”_

_He eyed Papyrus, taking a deep breath. “But you’re 17 now, almost an adult. What would the other soldiers say if you registered for the army under the name Papyrus? You would get made fun of and out-casted from the others, and I don’t want that for you.”_

_Papyrus, cut from his father’s words stared down at the carpet beneath him. “That would be pretty bad...”_

_“It would be.” His father gave him a pat on the back, then let go. “But it’s good that you’re learning it now, instead of after you make that terrible mistake and can’t change it.”_

_Placing his hands back on Punan, he spun him to look at himself in the mirror once more. “You’re going to love it in the army, Punan. Hard labor, knowing that you’re fighting for your country. It’s one big adrenaline rush.”_

_“It sounds kind of fun.” Punan felt his smile return, then a thought occurred to him and he half-heartedly glanced to his father for reassurance. “But what about Sans? He seemed so… sad.”_

_His father gave a firm pat on the back. “Don’t worry about your brother, he will be fine. I know that when I joined the army my siblings weren’t too thrilled. But after they got over it we were closer than we ever were.”_

_Punan’s father gave another reassuring smile. “He’ll get over it, I promise you. He’s just being a teenager right now, always fussing over stupid things.”_

_Punan frowned, deciding not to comment back. His father noticed this and Punan felt his grip get a little tighter on him. “Don’t let your brother hold you back from your dreams, Punan. He’ll be fine.”_

_He then walked Punan over to the door of their room. “Now come on, your brother and mother are excited to see how you look.”_

_Punan felt a small smile blossom on his lips, wondering just what praises he would get when he strutted out of the room and over to where Sans and his mom waited._

_With his father opening the door, Punan strutted out of the room and stopped in front of his mom and Sans. They had been sitting on a long stool in the hall near the room._

_His mother, who was starting to show a bit of grey from the stress of her work and whose bright blue eyes were now dull and tired, gave Punan was sweet smile. The creases in her face folded when she smiled, then stood up to look Punan over. “Well aren’t you sharply dressed.”_

_She walked around him once, hands intertwined with each other. “You look so handsome, Punan.”_

_“Nyeh, thanks mom.” Punan blushed, his eyes drifting over to where his brother sat._

_Unlike his mother, who was happy, Sans wouldn’t look at him. His right eye was still swollen from a black eye he had gotten when him and his father went out for a drive. Their father said Sans got it when they were walking in the local park and Sans tripped down the stairs. He seemed to be trying to hold back his sour frown from showing, hands on the stool and lightly twitching._

_Punan frowned in concern, then suddenly felt his father wrap an arm around him. “Doesn’t your brother look great, Sahel?”_

_Sans remained silent._

_Punan felt his nerves act up when his father’s grip got tighter. “Doesn’t he, Sahel?”_

_Sans opened his mouth, his teeth gritted. “It’s Sans.”_

_Punan’s eyes darted to his father, where he could see mild irritation surface. He smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. “Come now, Sahel. Aren’t you too old for that name?”_

_Sans’ hands tensed into fists, rearing his face at his father as if to challenge him. “Aren’t you too old to live your life through your children?”_

_“Sahel.” Their mother frowned, her eyes so tired. She moved over to Sans but he quickly got up and backed away. “You don’t talk to your father like that.”_

_Sans looked as though he wanted to say something back, but decided against it._

_His father glared. “Do we need to go for another ride, Sahel?”_

_Punan didn’t know why, but the look that flashed on his face for a second after their father spoke. It was terror. Sans hung his head low and then stormed off, with Punan shaking himself out of his father’s grip after him. “Sans!”_

_Sans almost made it to his room by the time Punan caught up, his hand resting on the doorknob. Punan hesitated to touch his brother, but he still reached his hand out. “Sans, what’s wrong? Is… is it because you can’t join me in the army?”_

_His fingers made contact with Sans’ shoulder, and suddenly Sans smacked it off. Punan backed up when his brother faced him, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. “Are you serious?!”_

_Punan stayed frozen, eyes wide in horror from how angry his brother was. Sans also noticed this, physically taking a step back as his body closed within itself. He lightly chuckled, a wavering smile appeared on his face. “So-Sorry… yo-you’re right, Papyrus… just sad that I can’t join you…”_

_Punan didn’t know how to react, his hands moving forward. “Yo-you still have time, Sans. If you just work on your weight, perhaps-”_

_“Yeah, yeah I’ll do that.” Sans cut him off too eagerly, hand fumbling for the door knob until it found it and opened his door. Sans backed into his dark room, nodding his head too fast and his smile was so fake. “You’re always right, Papyrus… Thanks…”_

_Punan opened his mouth but Sans by then had closed his door, and with a familiar click Punan knew he had locked it._

_Still his feet shuffled across the carpet over to his door, hands resting tenderly on the wood. He could hear his brother trying to muffle his sobs, and Punan couldn’t help but look at his father’s military suit with mixed confusion and sadness._

_Turning his back to the door, Punan allowed himself to slide down the door and sit, head placed in his knees._

_He didn’t move until sleepiness overtook him and Punan found himself drifting into unconsciousness._

“You alright there, Papyrus?”

Papyrus jolted a bit and snorted when he woke up, his eyes cracking open from the crust that had formed. Groggily Papyrus lifted his head, finding himself still in his sitting position from when Shyren had decided to sing for him.

Neither Shyren or the ghost were around, now it was only Sans with his backpack on looking at him fondly. Papyrus also noted that Sans wore his shoes again, which meant that their socks had dried off. “Man, bro. You slept like a rock.”

Papyrus let his legs lay out before stretching his body, feeling the aches of sleeping upright with nothing but rock underneath him. “I feel like one too.”

Sans lightly chuckled, watching his brother put back on his socks before extending a hand out as he helped Papyrus up. Papyrus continued to stretch his body while Sans unclipped one of the canteens from his backpack, handing it his way. “Thirsty?”

Papyrus gladly took the canteen. “Am I ever.” Before downing a few good swigs until there was nothing left in the canteen.

Papyrus wiped away a few drops of water that escaped his mouth, eyeing the other canteen. “Please tell me this wasn’t the last of our water supply.”

Sans smiled. “Yup, I got another canteen filled up. And we still have a few snacks left to keep us going.”

Papyrus felt a familiar smile form on his lips, reassurance was always nice. “Good, because I am star-”

With an upset rumble, Papyrus’ eyes grew wide as his body locked up. Sans looked to him questionably. “You ok, bro?”

“Restroom…” Papyrus weakly admitted, his body starting to shake. He didn’t know how he had gone on as long as he did without needing to stop and go but now his body was threatening to shut down if he didn’t relieve himself soon. “Oh god…”

Sans looked half-concerned, but then smiled again when he knew it was nothing dangerous. “Heh, I already went while you were sleeping.”

He then gestured for the water world behind them. “Just go over there.”

“Are you serious?” Papyrus shook his head bitterly, hopping from one foot to another now. “I can’t go there! The monsters look for stuff there! That’s so wrong!”

“You know where then?” Sans gave him a questionable, but teasing stare, tongue sticking out. “You don’t have a lot of options.”

Papyrus continued to dance, head darting every which way for something that could relieve him. When nothing was in sight he gritted his teeth, darting back over to the garbage dump they were in while Sans shook his head with a chuckle.

While his brother was gone relieving himself, Sans decided to relieve his mind as his hand found its way to his pocket. Fingers tensing around a familiar, leather sheath, Sans took out the hunter’s knife he had hidden so long ago.

Hands working from physical memory, the brown leather was pulled away into one hand, while the other held the glimmering steel, to which Sans saw his reflection in.

For a moment he took the time to look once more at his bright, blue eye before a thought befell him. He could have used it. He could have pulled it out and pushed Papyrus behind him when Sagiv had cornered them. Mary and Carrie said that human souls were much stronger than a monster’s, right? So if push came to shove…

Sans shook his head physically as his brow tensed, as if the thought had cut through his mind. No. He was stronger than that. So long as they had another option, he had to take it.

And if they didn’t… he would make sure Papyrus was looking the other way.

“I hope your happy, Sans.” The distance call of Papyrus’ voice quickly snapped Sans back into reality. His hands quickly moved to shove the knife back into its sheath before stabbing it into his pocket, deciding to lean back on the nearest rock as if he were waiting nonchalantly.

Papyrus turned the corner and over to where Sans stood just in time, showing how uncomfortable he was for his act with his frown. “I feel like some animal.”

“Hey, I didn’t make you go over there.” Sans smiled, to which Papyrus grumbled back. He motioned with his head to the left and to a path they had yet to take. “Just pretend you’re going in the woods, like we did when camping.”

“That’s not the same.” Papyrus retorted, but didn’t hesitate to follow Sans back to their journey. He hopped from one foot to another while putting his shoes back on. “At least in the woods people didn’t go looking for junk.”

“How do you know?” Sans asked, shrugging his shoulders while a grin sprouted on his lips. “You know what they say, ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’”

Papyrus responded with a deep, animated frown, to which Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at.

The two continued their journey through a tunnel of darkness, with only small mushrooms to illuminate the way. For the first half the two brothers did a good job of finding the mushrooms and avoiding hostile monsters, but upon entering the second part of the tunnel where the light only stayed for so long, the two found themselves more lost than they would have liked.

“Papyrus?” Sans called out while cupping his hands around his mouth. The two had scattered after they were attacked by a weird, white cat with a striped shirt on, who seemed desperate for some ‘temmie flakes’. Now the two were lost, alone, and in danger of hitting up another monster.

Sans would have used his flashlight to easily bypass the maze of lights, but sadly it had broken during their second fall and was completely useless.

“I’m over here, Sans!” Papyrus yelled back from somewhere on the trail, but from the constant tumble of water Sans couldn’t pin-point where Papyrus had scurried off to.

Using his feet to guide him on the trail, Sans kept his arms out in hopes of making contact with a nearby lantern. “Just stay where you are, alright? I’ll be over there soon!”

“Alright, but if another cat comes I’m not sticking around!” Papyrus whined. “I’m tired of flexing, as much fun as it is.”

Sans lightly chuckled. “You tired of showing off your muscles? Who knew.”

Hand brushing up against something cold, Sans relaxed to know he had come upon a lantern. He turned his body to the cold, smooth texture he was feeling, clicking a small button on the back to light up the area. A wave of soft light encompassed the world around Sans; several trails of grass responding to the light and glowing alongside it.

Sans smiled when the light first blossomed, only to be met with a shiny plague that reflected a grinning skull with a vibrant, blue eye.

Sans sucked in a breath of air and pushed himself back from the initial shock, now only seeing his muddled reflection where the skull once was. He gripped his chest while his heart beat as if it threatened to leave his body, his breaths heavy from such a fright.

Trembling, Sans gazed at his hands, which were shaking too hard like fingers in a harsh winter. Again, he felt like his skin was getting too tight for his bones, almost expecting the bone to start breaking through skin with a wave of blood.

“Sans?”

Sans twirled around to the noise, hunched over with eyes as wild as an animal. He was surprised to see Papyrus standing before him, having found his way over with their newfound light.

Papyrus gave Sans a worried glance. “God Sans, you look like you saw a ghost. Did you?”

“Ghost?” Sans innocently mimicked, his eyes darting back to the plague. Again, he saw his normal reflection, and when glancing back to his hands his skin no longer felt tight or shook.

Trying to calm the fires in his soul Sans stood back up, nodding his head. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Are you…”

He took a hard swallow, his voice starting to steady. “Are you feeling ok?”

“Me? I should be asking you that.” Papyrus stepped closer since Sans didn’t back away, letting his brother look him over.

Sans eyes were trained on Papyrus. “But you are ok? No feelings of tightness…?”

Papyrus, who had crouched to check out Sans now stood back up, deciding to give a good flex. “The only tight thing on me Sans is my glorious muscles!”

He eagerly looked down to Sans, who wasn’t laughing as he thought. His younger brother merely half-smiled, worry still plastered on his face. “Heh, good one, bro.”

Papyrus dropped his arms along with his smile. “Clearly you must have seen a ghost, for you and I both know that the Great Sans would never be this scared.”

Touching the lantern again so that their light wouldn’t die, Papyrus moved his hand over to Sans’ and gripped his tenderly. “Therefore, I, the Great Papyrus, shall lead us both out of this maze. So do not worry anymore, Sans, and let me take care of things.”

Sans just looked at his brother’s hand, feeling how warm and loving it was before back up at his brother, whose smile was more radiant than the light they were given.

He couldn’t help but give just as loving a smile back, nodding his head. “Alright, Papyrus. I trust you.”

Without another word, the two again started on their journey through the maze of lights. Papyrus kept a conversation going even when Sans didn’t respond, proclaiming all of the things they would do when they got back to the surface like a fast-food run to five different places, a trip to the arcade for a fun afternoon, and of course Papyrus’ new cool party version 2.0.

Sans kept one ear open and listened to Papyrus’ conversation, but he took the time they were walking to mentally calm him down inside and put back on his personality mask. He was usually really good about keeping up with Papyrus whenever he found him scared, but that time. That time was different.

Sans didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up. He needed to get to Asgore’s castle and soon, before he really started to worry Papyrus.

As if to signify the end of their journey through Waterfall, a giant rock stood proudly before the two brothers as they continued along their trail, deciding to stop to take a break.

Or rather, they stopped because of something on the rock that took their attention.

Papyrus squinted his eyes and leaned a little forward, trying to identify what it was he was seeing. “Is someone up there?”

Sans glanced at Papyrus quickly to see where he was looking, then moved his eyes in that direction. Sure enough, there was a small figure atop the looming rock, whose features were a little hard to identify. Sans however could see bits of cardboard stuck to the figure on the arms and legs, and most likely the chest too.

The figure lightly moved here and there to steady themselves, before deciding to speak. “Seven.

“Seven human souls, and King-”

“WHAT?” The figure jerked back only to then try to regain their balance, startled by the sudden voice.

Sans turned his head to Papyrus, who had cupped his hands over his mouth. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

The figure, who had now regained their balance spoke angrily down to the two. “I said seven! Seven hu-!”

“WHAT??”

“SEVEN! SEVEN HUMAN SOULS, AND KING ASGORE WILL FREE US!”

Sans felt a small knot twist in his stomach, the voice familiar but for now he didn’t know whose it was. Papyrus on the other hand didn’t seem nearly as frightened, instead nodding his head. “OK, THAT’S BETTER! WE CAN HEAR YOU NOW!”

“GOOD!”

The figure seemed to turn away dramatically, still screaming at the top of their lungs. “FIVE! THAT’S HOW MANY SOULS WE HAVE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND??”

The figure then turned back to Sans and Papyrus, and in a second a flash of blue made itself known at the top. With a some-what relieved smile, Sans knew who this was. “WITH YOUR TWO SOULS, WE WILL BE ABLE TO BREAK THE BARRIER! BUT FIRST, AS IS CUSTOMARY OF ALL WHO MAKE IT THIS FAR, I SHALL TELL YOU THE TRAGIC-”

But the figure above must have moved again, for suddenly their speech cut short and their body moved drastically. “Whoa, WHOA!!”

Leaning forward, the figure toppled off of their spot and started descending towards the two brothers, screams imminent in their fall. Sans first reaction was to grab at his head in fright, but Papyrus decided to move forward with his arms out. “I got you!!”

Just before the figure could hit the ground Papyrus lunged himself at the mouth of the cave, his arms grasping the rather small figure and jerking to a halt. Papyrus fought the inertia to fall after catching such a heavy load, his only response being the wind knocked out of him and several groans.

“Papyrus!” Sans moved quickly over to where his brother stood, who stumbled when turning around.

Papyrus seemed more relieved that he had caught the fallen child, who struggled in his arms. “Hey, it’s ok. I got you.”

“Let me go!” Undyne struggled in her attempts to push off of Papyrus, wearing what Sans assumed was her ‘battle armor’. It was merely a bunch of semi-soaked cardboard boxes stuck to her arms, legs, body and head, with crayon scribbled all over it to give it the appearance of black armor.

She forcefully pushed back up her ‘helmet’, which dug itself into her head before fiercely looking at Papyrus. “Ngah! You ruined my speech!”

Papyrus gave a teasing smile. “Pssh, I think I just saved your life.”

He closed his eyes, looking away like some prince would when saving the princess. “But do not cry, young fish-girl! For I, the Great Papyrus, need no thanks for-YEOWCH!”

Papyrus physically dropped Undyne after he felt a stabbing sensation in his left arm, staggering back and behind Sans. Undyne fell to the floor with a light gasp, but it quickly turned into a growl while she held one of her glowing, blue forks.

Pushing her ‘helmet’ back up her head, she stood up. “I didn’t need saving from you! Why would you save me anyways?”

“Because seeing you splat on the ground wouldn’t be cool?” Sans decided to answer, his hands finding its way back into his jacket pockets.

Undyne was confused for a moment before her anger quickly returned, brandishing her fork in front of her. “Don’t you two get it? I’m a monster, you’re humans! You’re the ones who trapped us down here!”

“We didn’t trap you here!” Papyrus decided to yell back, his tone hurtful while he rubbed the spot where Undyne had attacked him. Luckily she didn’t draw blood.

Undyne simply narrowed her eyes. “You might as well have, humans! Your people are all the same, attacking us and trapping us without a reason! Why did you even come here? Don’t you know that anyone who travels to Mt. Ebbot never returns?!”

“Hey, I didn’t want to come here!” Papyrus’ tone rose, his eyes locking onto Sans who meekly looked at him. “Ask my brother why we’re down here!”

Sans frowned. “I didn’t mean for this to happen and you know it, bro.”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened!” Undyne shouted, getting a little too annoyed for the moment. She showed off her fangs, but Papyrus’ interest laid in the pebbles he noticed at his feet.

Making sure Undyne wasn’t looking, Papyrus scooped up a rock. “You two made the mistake of coming here, and I’ll be the one to correct it!”

She started to grin, but Sans wasn’t really scared. “I’ll take your souls to King Asgore himself! He’ll be so proud of how far I’ve come!”

“Oh yeah?” Papyrus decided to make himself known again, hand grasping the rock while he pulled his arm back. “Well, this is what humans can do!”

Sans looked up at his brother just in time to watch him throw the rock at Undyne. The rock smacked her right in the left eye, to which Undyne gave an alarmed cry.

Her blue fork disappeared and Undyne took a few steps back, her hands covering her left eye while trails of blue light shone out from the translucent webbing on her fingers.

Sans flinched when the rock hit her but focused on Papyrus, who looked physically ill. “O-Oh no…”

Feet shuffling, Papyrus moved his way slowly out from behind Sans, his hands kept near his lips. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean to hit you there, or really hit you at all.”

Undyne just moved herself farther back the closer Papyrus came. Sans could feel a twinge of sorrow bury itself in his heart when Undyne buried her head in her box-chest. She lightly sniffled, as if to signify that she was on the verge of tears.

Sans felt himself move towards Undyne, but both brothers slowed when she spoke. “You…”

Her voice was drizzled with hatred, head lifting back up to show them her gritted teeth and burning anger. “YOU!!”

Still holding her left eye with one hand, she let her right wrist snap and bring forth her fork. Only this time several hordes of forks materialized behind her, all pointed at them. “I’LL KILL YOU!!”

Sans started to move back but Papyrus was quicker as he grabbed his hand and made a mad dash past Undyne and into the mouth of the cave. “Come on, Sans!”

Undyne quickly pursued after them, giving her battle-cry while forks flew at the two. Sans used his hands to protect the back of his head, while Papyrus practically ran circles around his brother to keep up. “Run faster, Sans! It’s not like death is upon us!!”

“Sorry… I’ve been neglecting… my training on running for… my life.” Sans wheezed through his words, finding it harder and harder to muster the strength to continue running. It felt like all they were doing since they entered the Underground was run, run, run. Why couldn’t they do something different, like swim for their lives or not run for their lives in the first place?

Why was everyone so quick to kill them?

“Stop running and just fight me!” Undyne’s voice wasn’t too far off, the little fish having a hard time keeping up in her battle armor. She had thrown off the cardboard on her arms and legs to keep a better pace with the two fleeing humans, her forks never faltering in being cast at them. “Prove to me that you’re stronger than us!!”

“No thanks, maybe later!” Papyrus yelled back, then immediately squeaked and ducked as a fork was tossed his way. These were much faster than the ones he had practiced with earlier, which caused him to only run faster and forget about Sans for a few moments.

“Papyrus wait!” Sans reached out a hand just as a fork sailed right at his backpack and stabbed into his canteen. He gasped and looked back when he heard the ringing noise, watching several lines of water trickle out from the clean holes and onto the ground.

Like the release of the water, Sans’ legs soon gave out from underneath him. He crashed onto the trail they ran down, fatigue ebbing over him and forcing his body to not respond. Even with the strange, magical bombs and him having a great night’s sleep, his body had never had so much physical exercise in its life, and Sans was now paying for it.

Sans bit his tongue and tried desperately to move, now afraid of one of Undyne’s attacks hitting him. If it could pierce his metal canteen like nothing-

Before Sans could let his mind down-spiral he watched Papyrus leap over him and stand triumphantly in front of him, blocking the path for Undyne. When he turned his head towards Sans however he looked less willing to fight and more ready to flee, hand extended towards his fat brother. “Give me your backpack!”

Sans struggled to throw the backpack off of his back, his eyes trained on Papyrus as he ripped the fork out of the canteen and held it out in front of him.

The fork flashed green, and Undyne had come to a halt. Her left eye was now closed, but that didn’t stop the sinister grin on her face from being deadly. “So, you done running? You ready to fight me?”

“Not really!” Papyrus yelled back, his legs chattering against one another. Sans’ arms ceased with their effort to get the backpack off for a second, his attention now trained on him.

Papyrus swallowed a bit of saliva while trying to steady his voice. “B-But if it means stopping you from hurting Sans then…”

Papyrus shut his eyes, his arms locking in front of him. “Then the Great Papyrus will defeat you!”

Undyne sneered, her forks bobbing in the air as if they were excited to tear at Papyrus. “Yes! This is the battle I’ve been waiting for! Give it your all, human, or else I’ll bring you back to life and then kill you again if you go easy!”

With those final words the forks lashed out at Papyrus. Sans flinched and held his hand up to his face, but the forks didn’t go past Papyrus. The teenager widened his stance and let the projectiles come, remembering his training from earlier and keeping up with the fast-paced forks, deflecting one after another.

When Sans opened his eyes he stood witness to the dance of battle Papyrus was performing; body moving gracefully as light pings echoed through the tunnel and forks ricocheted to every side.

It was almost… beautiful.

“Sans!” Sans removed himself from his awe when Papyrus slightly eyed him, never taking his eyes fully off of the forks that came his way. There was panic in his voice. “I would really like that backpack now!!”

“Oh, right.” Sans, finding a bit of strength within himself after seeing Papyrus selflessly defend him, lifted the backpack off of his back and onto the ground. He didn’t have the strength to hold it up for his brother, but Papyrus didn’t seem to care.

Ducking for half a second, Papyrus scooped up the backpack and twisted his body so that it flung onto his back and his arms safely tucked into the straps. With the backpack secure, Papyrus turned his back to the forks and let them hit the backpack as he crouched down and grabbed for Sans.

Sans would have verbally told his brother to stop as he was way too heavy for him to lift, if not for the fact that Papyrus heaved him under one arm like he was ragdoll.

Sans, who was cradled now in Papyrus’ arms, allowed himself to be completely and utterly confused while his brother made an attempt to flee again. Undyne growled and ran after them once more. “Cowards! I told you to not go easy!!”

“Well I said I wasn’t going to stick around!!” Papyrus didn’t need to look back to scream his message across while they ran towards a light at the end of their tunnel.

“Nngah!!”

Sans watched as several forks zipped past them, thankful none had found his posterior or his legs for the moment. Fatigue was already a problem, he didn’t need a disability in walking or sitting too.

As both exited the tunnel and into the light, Papyrus found his feet making a quick halt and fumbling to keep himself from falling. “WHOA!!”

In exiting stone the two now stood on dirt, elevated over an ocean of hot, boiling lava as far as their eyes could see. Grey smoke pillared up into the darkness of the mountain’s inside, and it was harder to breathe in such a hot climate then the coolness of Waterfall.

“Mountains shouldn’t work like this!” Papyrus felt the need to yell, his grip on Sans tightening before he remembered their fish friend right behind them. He continued to run down the dirt road and over a wooden bridge, where Papyrus promptly stopped.

Both him and Sans had heard Undyne’s battle cry get less violent the second they entered this new land, but now the poor girl was having a hard time running. She clutched at the box around her chest, tongue sticking out in desperate need of a drink of water. Apparently fish didn’t do so well in hot areas. “You… you!!”

Her voice was raspy and Undyne let out a few coughs, trying to swallow as much spit as she could to keep her throat wet. She glared daggers at both boys from the other side of the bridge, but she wouldn’t step farther.

In a fit of rage Undyne let loose a torrent of forks, to which Papyrus blocked most of them but most didn’t make it as far as where he stood. Undyne eventually stamped a foot on the ground. “Fine! I’ll let you go for now, humans! Not like you’re going to get anywhere anytime soon. You’re in Hotland now, home to King Asgore and the Royal Guard. If I didn’t stop you, this is where your journey ends!”

With a huff Undyne swiveled in her stance and left back for Waterfall, grumbling and pushing her ‘helmet’ back up her head from blocking her eyesight.

Papyrus decided to call back to Undyne while her figure started to fade away. “Yeah well… well!!”

Sans smiled. “Nice come back, bro.”

Papyrus eyed Sans. “Oh be quiet.”

He then set Sans down, allowing the poor teenager to take a seat while he slipped off his backpack. “Honestly, I go and save your life and all you can do is make fun of me.”

“I didn’t make fun of you.” Sans watched Papyrus set his backpack down beside him, looking to his irritated, older brother. “Thanks for saving me, Papyrus.”

Papyrus folded his arms, but a small smile grew on his face when regarding Sans. “It’s nothing.”

He then placed a hand to his chest, as if waiting once more for a wind to blow through his hair. “It wasn’t very hard to come up with such a brilliant plan to rescue my dear, younger brother. Why, when picking you up it was…. relatively…”

Papyrus opened his eyes, body slowly turning to look at Sans. “…easy???”

Sans gave the same confused stare back at Papyrus, whose eyes were like a gateway to the million thoughts running in his head. Suddenly Papyrus bent down and without permission grabbed Sans’ sides, lifting him into the air.

“Wh-whoa, bro.” Sans didn’t like to be picked up, in fact he didn’t think anyone could. He felt like a ragdoll again in Papyrus’ arms, who stared at himself in disbelief.

Then, he snorted. “Oh my goodness… Are you serious?!”

Papyrus’ orange eyes grew childlike as he started to spin, holding Sans carefully in his arms and bellowing out his signature laugh. Sans, who held onto Papyrus’ hands in fear of being dropped or worse, being thrown into the lava, couldn’t help but feel a few chuckles bubble up from his stomach. They soon transformed into a good laugh, one that both boys had needed for awhile.

“I-I can’t believe this.” Papyrus stopped spinning and looked to Sans with sweetly eyes. Sans hadn’t seen his brother look so excited since he was a child. “I mean, look at this!”

“I’m looking.” Sans patted one of Papyrus’ hands, as if to test how sturdy they were. “All your weight-lifting paid off, bro.”

“I know!!” Papyrus brought Sans closer until he was firmly pressed up against his chest in a hug. Sans was surprised for a second, then let the hug happen as he wrapped his arms around his brother, who held him delicately in the air.

The two shared a moment before Papyrus sat Sans back down, wanting to inspect the backpack to make sure nothing else was damaged. As Sans checked their inventory Papyrus decided to take a few steps forward and glance at a tall, white building not too far off.

His eyes moved to the left and up at a giant, silhouette that he could only assume was the King’s castle. They were almost there, almost home.

And while a pit in Papyrus’ stomach threatened to take hold, even if the threat of a thousand guards and a mad king were in their way, he didn’t seem so frightened. All he did was look back at Sans, and know that so long as they were a team, they would survive.

The true test had begun.


	12. Level 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Sorry I left you guys hanging for a little, I got settled back into college and things have been hectic since i've got back. I hope to post on a daily basis though after today so that I can finishing posting the story here.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

“Hello? Erm, can we come in?”

Papyrus seemed reluctant as he called into the darkness, shoving the white building’s doors open just enough so that Sans and himself could slip in. The building was caked in a layer of darkness, which made Papyrus start to slink back outside. “Sans, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Don’t be scared, bro.” Sans watched his brother tip-toe up to him while he dug around futilely in his backpack for his flashlight. “We need to escape the heat now that our canteens are empty. We’ll just be in here for a few minutes, then we’ll head to Asgore’s castle.”

“And then to our deaths.” Papyrus glumly added, though the sudden twitch of light froze him in his spot.

Sans also stopped as the lights above them suddenly flickered on, the darkness around them fading and objects jumping out in the foreground. The building was just one, giant room, with several tables scattered all across the room and piled with messy papers, unclean beakers and garbage. Two escalators, one going up and down, seemed to go towards a small nook in the room for a possible second floor.

Papyrus, upon looking at the stuff before them recoiled with a disgusted look. “Eugh, this place looks worse than your room.”

Sans regarded Papyrus with a light smile before venturing off to inspect the papers on the tables. “Heh, what can I say? Sometimes I like to ‘mess’ around.”

“God, Sans!” Sans’ grin only grew when he heard how irritated Papyrus’ voice was, turning his attention back to the papers. He grabbed a few sheets and flipped through them, finding that most of them were just math equations and charts.

Papyrus aimlessly wandered around the room, his back straightening when he felt a chill crawl up his spine. “I don’t like this place, Sans. What if a monster is waiting to attack us?”

“Well that would suck.” Sans locked eyes with his lost brother, trying to comfort him with his smile. “It looks like whoever lives here is out, so don’t worry.”

“Hmph, just wait till they come back.” Papyrus simply muttered, but decided to buy his time by shuffling through a few of his own papers at a nearby desk.

Sans shook his head before turning back to his paper pile. He shifted through a few sheets before pausing on one in particular, trying to study the characters drawn on.

It looked to be a journal entry, but Sans didn’t know where to begin with the symbols on each line. It sort of reminded him of hieroglyphics, only with mailboxes and hand signs.

“Hey Papyrus, come look at this.” Sans gestured Papyrus over, who was now checking out some of the beakers on a nearby table.

“What is it, Sans?” Papyrus gave his brother a cautionary glance when he stepped behind him. “Not another terrible joke, is it?”

“Nah, bro. Though you could say my jokes are ‘trashy’.” Papyrus’ frown cut deep when Sans’ grinned. “Come on, you walked into that one.”

“What are we looking at, huh?” Papyrus deciding to ignore Sans, glancing around for what Sans had in mind to show him. He soon pointed to the paper in his hands. “Is that it?”

“Yeah.” Sans handed the paper to Papyrus, who snatched it and thoroughly scanned the paper. “It seems to be some sort of writing, but I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

Papyrus buried his head into the paper, before bringing it down to his hips in a confident pose. “Well I’m glad you came to me then, Sans. Obviously this piece of paper is trying to tell us something by ways of pictures. Now watch as I, the Great Papyrus, am able to decipher this ancient text!”

Bringing the paper back up to his face, Papyrus began to read. “Snowflake, down pointed index finger, index finger pointing left, line break, snowflake, index finger pointing left, black drop, another snowflake, bla-”

“Ok, I think I get it.” Sans waved a hand to his brother for him to stop, a little horrified that his brother would probably have gone and continued to ramble off the pictures until he got to the bottom.

He took the paper back from Papyrus’ hands, looking it over once more. “It’s like some sort of code, with each symbol probably representing a word, or a letter.”

“Like Morse Code?” Papyrus asked, a frown settling on his face. “Fact, how does one speak Morse Code? I feel that would be really hard.”

“I think you need a machine for that.” Sans seemed more intent at staring at the paper than listening to his brother, trying to find a pattern.

Papyrus, noticing his brother was stuck in that paper decided to find his own, letting out an airy chuckle. “Well, if anyone is going to be able to decipher this, it’s you, Sans. You’re always acing every test, making mom and dad proud.”

Sans didn’t like where this conversation was going, his teeth clenched together. “Yeah, but you make mom and dad proud in your sports. I’ve never seen a faster runner than you, or someone who can throw a faster ball.”

“Nyeh, I know, but you know what I mean.” Papyrus glanced over to his brother, but Sans darted his head away.

Papyrus frowned, then went back to looking through stacks. “Do you know what you want to do after high-school?”

“I haven’t thought that far.” Sans spoke faster than what Papyrus was used to, raising red flags in his head.

He kept watching his brother, but Sans wouldn’t move his head over to look at him, as if he were hiding something. “Dad wants you to go to a prestigious college. Says you’ll be the next Einstein.”

“Yeah well, that’s what Dad wants.” Again Sans’ sentences were coming pretty fast, which Papyrus didn’t like.

He stepped over to where Sans was looking but figured when Sans would look the other way, hands mindlessly shuffling through whatever it could grasp. “Sans.”

“What?” Sans shrugged his shoulders, but kept his face hidden. “I’ll come up with something eventually. Jeez Papyrus, you worry too much.”

“Maybe I don’t worry enough.” Papyrus took a step closer to Sans, but he fumbled to the side in taking his own. Papyrus narrowed his eyes, unable to see how frightened Sans were.

“Look, I’m fine, Papyrus. You’re letting this whole adventure mess with your head. Trust me, nothing’s wrong, promise.”

Papyrus stood straight, crossing his arms while he cocked an eyebrow. “You promise, huh?”

Sans nodded his head eagerly. “Yup, I promise.”

“It’s funny… If I didn’t know any better, I would say you only make promises when you lie.”

Sans, shocked by Papyrus’ words shot his head up in a desperate search for his brother; sweat having formed on his brow and forehead. Papyrus however wasn’t there, having walked off and farther into the room to inspect something else.

Sans felt the truth piling up in his throat like stomach acid, his lips quivering to finally say something to his brother. It’s always been like this between the two, Sans never thought Papyrus would start catching on though.

His mouth opened to start, but his eyes caught something that changed his words. “What’s that?”

Papyrus only glanced to watch his brother walk deeper into the room, rounding a small corner and halting soon after. Papyrus, being the curious one followed after Sans, who froze just as quickly as he had.

His head leaned back and gazed up in alarm, while Sans felt his skin crawling on his back. “Dang…”

Several rows and columns of small, cube TVs encompassed the wall the two stared at, having at the very least 30 monitors. There was a control panel just beneath the last row of TVs and two chairs, but the frightening aspect came from what the TVs showed. It was the snowy forest, it was Snowdin, it was the path to Waterfall, the dump, Hotland, every spot the two had traveled and more.

Sans eyed Papyrus and was a little surprised to see Papyrus already had the pager out, staring at it intently before back up at the TVs. Sans bit the inside of his cheek. “I think we found our helper…”

“Our helper?” Papyrus glanced at Sans before giving a weary glance to his pager. “You mean to tell me the monster who’s been helping us is some sort of…stalker???”

Sans shifted his eyesight over to Papyrus. “I wouldn’t say stalker.”

His head turned to get a good look at the place once more. Funky papers, beakers on cluttered tables, a giant monitoring room. “I think we’re in someone’s lab.”

“This? A lab?” Papyrus gestured with open arms at the area around them. “Labs aren’t this cluttered, Sans. They’re usually a lot whiter and cleaner, like in the movies. Also there’s usually a hidden mutation or alien somewhere in the place.”

As if to believe his words Papyrus lightly hunched over, eyes darting back and forth. “B-But of course this place is a mess! So therefore there can’t be any hidden mutations or aliens waiting to devour our flesh and play the xylophone with our bones. N-Nyeh!”

Sans felt an urge crawl up his throat to pique Papyrus’ fear with thoughts of a mad scientist lab, but figured he had had enough scares for one epic journey. He absentmindedly stared back up at one of the southern television sets, noticing a lot of air vents that looked to be in the form of a puzzle.

Slipping off one of his shoulder straps, Sans had his journal back in hand and was sketching the pattern out and a few other things he noticed, hoping it would come in handy in the near future. With Sans occupied Papyrus decided to explore the first part of the room again, leaving Sans to his observations and sketches.

He released a little sigh, eyes catching Sans every so often in his search for something unique. Papyrus’ eyes flickered back over to the table he was at, trying to quell this uneasy feeling inside of him. If Sans wanted to talk, he would come to him.

Papyrus felt a sad chuckle escape his lips. Yeah, right.

Glancing back up, Papyrus was somewhat surprised to see a bathroom sign atop what appeared to be a door-slit in one of the walls. Even if he had just gone, the thought of using a restroom again was like a god-sent, moving quickly over to the door.

He first tried sliding the door to one side, but learned that it was locked. He then knocked on the door, angling his head to try and look at it better. “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

Papyrus’ rapping on the door pulled Sans from his notes, leaning back enough to find Papyrus standing before what appeared to be a bathroom. “You need to go again, bro?”

Papyrus turned to Sans, lightly annoyed. “Well when’s the next time we’re going to find a bathroom, huh? If this is the only one I rather use it now then have to go outside later.”

“Point taken.” Placing his journal away in his pocket, Sans moved over to where his brother stood, looking over the door for any indication of a handle or way to get in.

Papyrus tried once more to force it open with Sans’ help, but neither of them were able to budge it the slightest inch. The tall brother straightened his back while Sans’ eyes darted around the room. “That is one sticky door.”

“Yeah…” Sans took a few steps back, retrieving his hunting knife and releasing it from its sheath.

He immediately regretted pulling it out though when Papyrus merely glanced at it then back at the door, but upon realizing what he had just seen he turned his full attention on it. “Why do you have your hunter’s knife with you??”

Sans gave a weary smile, shrugging his shoulders lightly. “I thought we might need it in case we ran into any rabid squirrels.”

“Ok, so let me get this straight.” Papyrus gave Sans a dirty look, extending his palm only to count on his fingers. “You brought two canteens of water, a bunch of snacks, your winter jacket, a map, a compass, some stick you found in the woods, **and** your hunting knife? Why would you bring all that stuff for a trip up the mountain?”

“Hey, you remember how much dad packed when we went camping?” Sans felt his grip get tighter on the knife, as if Papyrus was verbally backing him into a corner.

Papyrus threw his arms into the air. “That’s because we were in the woods for days!”

Bringing his arms down, Papyrus took a deep breath. “Honestly Sans, why did you pack that much stuff?”

Sans opened his mouth to quickly calm the flames of Papyrus’ curiosity, but Papyrus cut him off. “And I want the truth. I want you to open up to me, for once.”

How pleading Papyrus’ eyes were when he stared at his brother, crouching a bit to get a better eye-level. “Would it honestly kill you?”

Sans gritted his teeth, eyes darting to the side in mild annoyance. How he wanted to open up, Papyrus had no idea.

The only thing between the two was the glittering steel of the knife.

Knife moving, Sans pointed it at the door, trying to regain his smile. “Look, you wanted that door open, right? I’m not dying anytime soon, but I’d hate for you to go because you couldn’t go.”

His eyes moved back to Papyrus, having used his last ace in the hole. Papyrus was catching on too fast and Sans couldn’t bear to have that talk, hoping that like every other time, Papyrus would move onto the next subject with mild annoyance. He had to.

But when his eyes locked onto his, Sans didn’t get the satisfaction of knowing his plan had worked. No, he only saw the disappointment and sorrow in his brother’s eyes before he moved to stand back up, crossing his arms. “I guess so.”

A beaker, which had been teetering on the edge of one of the tables, fell silently before shattering into a million pieces. Papyrus nor Sans turned to the sound, as if they were tending to the thing that had shattered among themselves.

Sans had no words to express at his brother right now, who paid him no second glance, eyes only fixed to the door before them. “Well? You going to open it?”

Teeth gritted once more, Sans could feel the fire within him reignite. His hand itched with the knife in it, lifting it towards the door. “Yeah, give me a moment.”

He had just stuck the knife into the crack when a loud knock echoed through the lab, followed by a commanding tone. “Dr. Gaster!”

Sans hissed and flinched back, pulling the knife out of the door and holding it before him. Papyrus turned to the door, his feelings at the moment being shoved back for fear again. “Sagiv.”

Sans’ eyes quickly scanned the room, hoping to find another door or somewhere they could hide. When he had decided to turn around he noticed a door east of the room, motioning for Papyrus. “Come on, this way!”

Papyrus followed behind Sans as they made their way towards the door, quickly passing by the set of monitors when Sans came to a halt.

Papyrus nearly ran into his brother, harshly whispering. “Sans! What’s the hold-up?!”

The knocks were getting louder. “Are you home? Or is your head stuck in another human history book?”

“The monitors.” Sans breathed, body turning drastically back to the rows and columns of TVs. If they had left just then, it would be easy for Sagiv to come in and track them. They were dangerous to be left alone.

Knife still clenched in his hand, Sans stomped back over to the monitors, grabbing the nearby chair and climbing atop it. Papyrus turned from his spot, watching his brother trying to steady himself on the roll-y chair. “Sans, we don’t have time to mess around! Get over here and let’s go!”

“You want to run? Run.” Sans turned back to his brother with an annoyed glare, going back to the TVs while raising his hand with the knife. “I’m going to ensure Sagiv can’t track us.”

Teeth clenched, Sans brought down the knife upon the TV which showed the beginning of Hotland, his hand going through the screen and creating a loud, crashing noise. Sans recoiled when one of the TV shards cut into his hand, noticing a long cut on the side while blood started to form.

He knew however that he only had seconds before Sagiv would burst in, continuing to smash as many as he could in the time that he had.

“Gaster?! What in all of the Underground are you doing?!” Just as the front lab door had opened, Sans took that as his cue to run.

He hopped off of the chair, having broken most of the TVs up until they showed halls filled with wires and dim lights, scurrying over to Papyrus. “Go, GO!”

“YOU!!” Sans didn’t need to turn back around to know that Sagiv had saw them when they reached the east door, pushing it shut behind them.

Papyrus and Sans pushed themselves off the door when a huge dent cropped up, signifying that Sagiv wasn’t here to chat. Reaching into his backpack while stuffing his knife back in his pocket, Sans ripped a few snacks out, opening them up and throwing them onto the ground.

“Sans!!” Papyrus was a few good feet ahead of his brother, furious now for how slow Sans was moving.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing!!” Sans yelled back, throwing the rest of the snacks he couldn’t empty on the ground before running over to Papyrus. His brother didn’t wait until he got there, simply running back and scooping him into his arms before charging off again.

“You didn’t throw all our snacks out, did you?” Papyrus gave his brother the stink eye, to which Sans responded with a half-hearted smile.

“It was for a worthy cause.” Sans started to shrug, though he didn’t get the chance to finish it when they both watched an orange arrow rip through Papyrus’ chest and disappear.

The next thing Sans knew he was dropped to the ground, scrambling to lift his head up with his elbows as Papyrus flailed around while continuing to rise. “SANS, HELP ME!!”

“It’s ok, Papyrus! Just swim!!” Sans cried out, getting to his knees and looking back to notice Sagiv along with his Knights just a few feet behind them.

The head of the Royal Guard sneered when looking at Sans, then to his brother who was flipping upside down and around trying to get control of his body. “Fool me once with snacks, shame on me. But I learn from my past mistakes, Humans, and this time your trap didn’t work!”

He quickly turned his head behind him, regarding his Knights who were currently scraping up some of the snacks. “But do pick them up; I would like to eat them later in celebration for ridding the Underground of two annoying Humans.”

He regarded Sans and Papyrus when speaking the last of his sentence, lining another orange arrow in his bow. “Ready to join your brother?”

Sans rose to his feet, just dodging the orange arrow, but wasn’t prepared when Sagiv rushed at him. The giant parrot attempted to grab Sans, who was stumbling over his feet and throwing his weight around to keep away from his iron grip. He remembered what happened last time when Sagiv had gotten a hold of him, and he wasn’t going to let him do it again.

Again the itch to hold the knife came back, but Sans tried to throw that urge away. He wasn’t in peril yet, they could still run. He needn’t kill, and he wouldn’t.

Pulling back a fist, Sagiv caught Sans off guard and punched him in the stomach. Sans instinctually opened his mouth and felt the air exit his lungs, along with a few drops of saliva before smashing onto the ground.

“Sans!” Papyrus was starting to get used to floating around for the moment, having to watch from the air above as the trained knight was closing in on his brother.

Sagiv brought his foot up to trap Sans once more, but Sans moved quicker than the old bird and expected him to do something like that again. Throwing his backpack off his shoulders, he rose to one leg, swinging his backpack into the parrot.

Sagiv, caught off guard by the backpack and how much weight it had, fell alongside the backpack, allowing Sans to get back up and continue running away. He motioned wildly with his arms for Papyrus. “Papyrus!”

“But what about the backpack?” Papyrus asked, doing butterfly strokes in order to kick-start his getaway.

Sans gritted his teeth, knowing that the stuff he packed inside was irreplaceable. But there was no time to go back, no matter how much he wanted to keep what was within. “It’s ok, nothing valuable was in there. Now come on!”

Sagiv growled when he pushed the backpack off of him, rising to his feet. “I’m going to kill that fat human if it’s my last act as head of the Royal Guard!”

He then snapped his head back, squawking at his two knights who had stopped picking up snacks. “What are you waiting for? After them!!”

“But sir, the snacks!” One of the knights protested until Sagiv had come over and smacked them upside the head.

“Forget the snacks!” He then ripped away one of the bags, watching his two knights scurry after the two fleeing humans. For a moment, Sagiv lost himself when he sniffed curiously at the bag of chips Sans had opened, then flinched back with disgust for easily forgetting the mission and threw them to the side.

“How are you doing, bro?” Sans turned a corner during his sprint, feeling much better now that he wasn’t lugging such a heavy backpack on his back. It was almost liberating, if not for the fact that he had left behind the photo album and several other precious things he had stored inside that bag. His left hand gripped his right, which had stopped bleeding but stung like a wild hornet’s nest.

Papyrus kept up rather easily with Sans as he normally did, making strong, exaggerated strokes with his arms and legs. “Phew, nothing like swimming through the air to really pump your blood!”

“My exact thoughts.” Sans easily remembered what it was like when he had to swim for his life, happy that he didn’t have to do such a silly thing again.

“… Sagiv was the one who gave you the black eye, didn’t he.”

Sans almost stopped when Papyrus had asked such a question, turning to look at his brother. He no longer looked afraid; instead he was more serious than Sans had seen him, his eyebrows furrowed deep on his face.

Sans allowed himself to frown, lightly nodding his head. “Yeah... it uh, wasn’t a good time.”

Papyrus didn’t respond back, but Sans could tell he was processing what he said. The look on his face, it slightly resembled the look of a mother bear about to do battle to save her children.

To conserve energy Papyrus switched to back-stroking, though he quickly surpassed Sans when a grove of tropical trees suddenly grew from the ground and cut Sans off.

The fat teenager was able to stop in time but sadly was thrown into the air just as one tree pushed out of the ground beneath him. He held onto the big, banana leaves and tried to steady himself from falling.

“I’m coming, Sans!” Papyrus stopped swimming and pushed himself back over to where Sans was, angling himself so that he would go higher to grab his brother.

“Heh, don’t mind me. I’m just ‘hanging’ around.” Sans tried to cut the tense atmosphere with a bad joke, though the Royal Guard didn’t seem to like it as he was suddenly met with a torrent of arrows.

He moved his head when he could, ripping one of the banana leaves out to use as a shield. The second Sans held the leaf up one red arrow cut through the middle but got stuck, leaving Sans to lean back.

The monkey guard that had summoned the trees willed a few more to grow taller than the other ones, trying to block Sans off from his brother. Papyrus merely swam his way around them though, while the other guard unclipped two giant, wooden boomerangs from either side of them.

With a hearty throw the boomerangs zipped through the air, picking up the wind around it and creating small tornadoes. The boomerangs curved back to the knight, who caught them with a graceful jump, but the tornadoes were left to grow larger and head straight for Sans.

“Papyrus!!” Sans gripped tighter onto the leaves underneath him, holding the arrow’ed leaf under his arm.

With a deep stroke Papyrus propelled himself forward and over to Sans, grabbing onto the arms his brother extended out. “I got you!!”

Sans stared back at the massive tornadoes coming their way, finding himself screaming. Papyrus though used his brother’s weight to pull him down to the leaves, and using them as a spring launched him and his brother high into the air.

Just as Sans felt the pulling sensation of the tornadoes beneath him the two had soared high enough out the wind’s grasp, watching them dissipate behind them.

“Whoa…” Sans couldn’t help but chuckle, then laugh from how nervous and frightened he was with the thought of being swept into lava. He angled his head up at Papyrus, who seemed to be beaming. “That was awesome, Papyrus!”

“Nyeh, just goes to show what an amazing brother I am!” Papyrus tried moving Sans to under his arm, angling himself to continue on. “Come Sans, let’s fly away and into-!”

But sadly Papyrus’ monologue had turned to screams when a red arrow flew into Papyrus, and with it both boys were sent plummeting towards the ground. They hit onto the banana trees before slamming back on the path behind the wall of trees, struggling to get up and move.

“Oh god, my back!” Papyrus twitched as he pulled himself to his knees, while Sans groaned in getting to his feet.

“I really didn’t want to do that again.” Sans moaned, bringing up the leaf he still held with the red arrow. It was still imbedded in the leaf, and for some reason he figured he would keep it for later.

The trees then shook, as if they threatened to return to the ground they came from followed by Sagiv’s barking tone. “They can’t run forever! Keep up the teamwork and we’ll all be heroes today!”

“Come on, Papyrus.” Sans helped his brother up, the two of them limping off before getting back into a normal run.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the Royal Guard were back on their trail, with tropical trees sprouting to try and block them off while tornadoes grew into massive threats, followed by a shower of arrows. Papyrus had taken Sans under his arms once more, having been lucky to hurdle over the growing trees before they could cut them off while Sans told Papyrus where the tornadoes were heading to keep out of its suction.

Eventually the two came to their first puzzle of Hotland, with the path before them cutting away for several square pieces of land, vents, and lava beneath their feet.

Papyrus gulped and set Sans down, seeing no way onward. “We’re stuck!”

Sans glanced at the vents before them, then to the sound of the Royal Guard catching up. In an act of desperation Sans threw himself onto the vent, hoping that it would do something than just fill his pants with hot air.

To his luck the wind coming out of the vents was strong enough to send him flying to the square patch of land before them, falling to his knees from an unsteady landing.

Papyrus did the same as Sans made room for his brother to come onto the square of land, quickly picking himself back up. “Which way are we supposed to go?!”

“Give me a second.” Sans scanned the area quickly, seeing several paths they could take but knowing that they could only take one for success. They didn’t have time to try them or really think about the solution with Sagiv and the Royal guard right behind them.

The pressure was too much.

“Sans!” Papyrus yelled out of fear, to which his brother turned right on him.

“I’m trying, ok?! Give me a moment!”

Papyrus, who was initially shocked at the small outburst glared back. “Well we don’t have a moment! Let’s just try our own paths and whoever makes it out can distract the guard!”

“Papyrus, that’s a terrible idea!” But just as Sans had said it Papyrus had already taken off, leaving Sans on his plot of land.

He felt the need to curse but didn’t when another tree threatened to grow right beneath him, going left while his brother had gone right. The Royal Guard once more kept up with their attacks, throwing tornadoes, trees and arrows whenever they could.

Papyrus fared well as he went on his path, but Sans was having a rougher time trying to map out the area and dodge for his life. Upon landing on a square close to the exit, Sans didn’t know he was in peril until the winds behind him picked up. He turned in head in time to be swallowed whole by one of the tornadoes. “PAPYRUS!!”

Papyrus stopped his vent-jumping in time to see Sans get engulfed, his hands gripping his head. “SANS!!”

Sagiv couldn’t help but laugh upon watching Sans get swept away, producing a few more orange arrows. “Let’s see you try and escape that tornado, human! The only time you’ll be able to is when it’s right over the lava; your fate is sealed!!”

“HEY!!” Sagiv and the rest of the Royal Guard turned their attention to Papyrus, who had taken to flailing his arms in the air.

When he set them down he grew in fear for a second, then squashed it and sneered at the parrot. “Why don’t you try hitting something that isn’t running straight ahead! Or is that the best you can do?”

“Oooooh.” One of the guards looked to Sagiv, who merely growled at them back.

He took aim. “With pleasure.”

A couple of hours ago, Papyrus would have been screaming and running in circles with Sagiv’s bow pointed at him. Instead he only crouched down and ran for one of the vents, allowing its currents to shoot him into the air.

With the release of his bow the orange arrow shot into Papyrus, giving him the ability of flight once more. He quickly used his newfound powers to shoot himself right into the tornado.

“What is that human doing?!” The boomerang guard asked, watching Papyrus willingly let the tornado take him. “It’s like he’s got a death-wish!”

“No, wait…” Sagiv soon caught onto what Papyrus had done, loading his bow with several red arrows. “Make more tornadoes, now!!”

Upon letting the tornado take Papyrus, the teenager could safely say he now knew what his laundry felt like in the dryer. All the spinning and tossing made Papyrus thankful he was starving for the moment, trying to find his brother in all of the harsh winds and pulling. “Sans!!”

“Papyrus!!” A blur of blue shot just beneath Papyrus, letting him know that Sans was nearby. He swirled around and was thrown like a ragdoll, trying to keep the stuff in his pockets from flying off and into the lava. Papyrus however didn’t notice that his pager had flown out until it passed by his head and out of the tornado. So much for their ‘friend’s’ help.

Papyrus tried swimming deeper into the tornado, but that was about as easy as trying to drive through the ocean. Instead the only thing Papyrus could do was stick his hand out, watching as the eye of the tornado left the squares of land and erupted with the bright light of lava beneath them. “Sans, take my hand!!”

Sans only caught what Papyrus was saying after he had gone by him two times, forcing his arm up and through the wind in desperation of grabbing his brother’s hand. The winds were slowly starting to die, and if they didn’t act soon, they too would die with it.

Just as the winds were almost gone Sans was pulled back over to his brother, lunging himself forward and grabbing a hold of his hand. Papyrus jerked with the sudden weight but held his brother up, the two watching the tornado disappear and an ocean of lava beneath them open up.

Sans yelped and his legs peddled him in a futile attempt to get away, but Papyrus was able to hold his brother in between his legs. “I got you, Sans! It’s ok!!”

“Oh god.” Sans wasn’t able to breathe until he knew he was safe in the crook of Papyrus’ legs, sweating profusely from the heat and the thought of almost dying.

He regarded Papyrus with another weak smile. “Thanks, bro. I nearly got roasted there.”

“Save the bad puns for later, Sans!” Papyrus turned his head back only to be met with three more tornadoes coming their way, colored red from all the red arrows flying inside. “It’s time we departed!!”

Tightening his hold on Sans and using his arms, Papyrus swam vertically upwards and above the tornadoes, but he didn’t stop as he noticed platforms and other paths above them.

“Sir, they’re getting away!” One of the guards pointed out.

Sagiv would have been furious, since he knew his arrows couldn’t reach where Papyrus was now. However when noticing where he was swimming to he clicked his beak, then motioned for his Knights to follow. “They’re heading for the third floor! Come, we’ll beat them before they have a chance to get to the castle!!”

With the guard rushing to find a way up, Papyrus was nearly exhausted as he reached the highest level he could swim to. He let Sans go from his grasp, who was at first reluctant to be let go but settled down when placing his feet on dry ground.

“Ok, this was cool at first but…” Papyrus wiped some sweat off of his forehead, arms hanging to the side of him. “I sort of hate flying now?”

Sans let out a nervous chuckle, looking to the banana leaf he held with the red arrow. “I know the feeling.”

He extended the leaf to Papyrus, who gladly took it. “I thought you might want to get back in touch with gravity.”

Touching the red arrow, the magical weapon vanished and with it Papyrus fell face-first onto the ground. Sans couldn’t help but snort, with his brother pushing himself to sit on his rear. He rubbed his face. “That’s not funny, Sans!”

“Hey, I’m taking my laughter where I can get it.” Sans simply shrugged, though when the laughter died down the two were left with sweat, exhaustion and an awkward silence.

Sans bit his lower lip, a little surprised Papyrus hadn’t yelled at him back or smiled at him. Instead he just looked away, and as if Sagiv never happened the two were back to how they were in the lab.

Without a word Papyrus stood back on his feet, watching his brother rub his neck awkwardly. He gave him a concerned frown. “You alright?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.” Sans suddenly couldn’t make eye contact with his brother, as if in doing so it would restart their last conversation.

Papyrus stared hard at the deep cut Sans had received, moving his hand to grab his wrist, but Sans merely retracted his hand. Sans gave his brother a quick glance, but it was enough to know that he was still disappointed.

“Nyeh, why do I ask? You’re always alright.” Papyrus crossed his arms again, turning his head to look at the sight before them.

Sans followed Papyrus’ gaze, the two noticing just how close the castle had gotten. Before them stood a giant, industrialized machine, but beyond that was the castle that just half a day ago was so far off. They were almost there.

“Wow…” Sans breathed, his hand reaching for his journal in his pocket. He frowned though when he remembered his pen was in his backpack, shoving his journal back away.

He instead decided to look at his brother, who looked more relieved than him to be so close to the castle. “We’re almost done…”

Without giving the castle another glance, Papyrus dropped his arms and motioned for Sans to follow, where the path they were on seemed to lead to a long, dark tunnel. “Well? Come on then.”

Papyrus didn’t sound nearly as excited as Sans thought, but in not wanting to provoke Papyrus back into their earlier conversation just silently followed behind.

However the closer they got to the dark tunnel, Sans couldn’t help but remark. “You’re not scared, bro? I mean, we’re sort of walking into a dark room.”

“Please, Sans.” Papyrus turned back, unable to stop himself from giving a small, proud smile. “I just escaped from a horde of tornadoes and wild banana trees. I think I can take a dark room.”

In that moment Sans couldn’t believe this was the same brother he had entered the Underground with. How much they had grown, chuckling. “Yeah, the Great Papyrus can do anything.”

“And don’t you forget it.” Turning back to the dark room, the two brothers entered without hesitation. But had they just taken a moment to observe their surroundings, they might have taken notice of the cobwebs lining the top corners of the door frame.


	13. Level 12

“Eugh, someone needs to clean this room.” Papyrus raised both of his legs up while walking as if he were back in the snow.

Every time his shoe was lifted it produced another sticky sound, the same with Sans. “I feel like I’m in the movie theaters again. Nothing but soda and gum on the floor.”

“Heh, that’s what I was thinking, bro.” Sans followed behind his brother, surprised at how sticky the floor was becoming. It wasn’t pitch black in the room, but not very bright either, so the two were having a hard time identifying what was on the ground. Or really where they were going for that matter.

“I’m starting to believe that this isn’t the right way.” Papyrus took a moment to rest his tired legs; waiting for Sans to hobble on over before he stopped as well.

“Well, we sort of got disorientated on which way to go when you flew up here.” Sans wiped some sweat forming on his forehead away, looking back to the bright world of Hotland from the doorframe they entered.

Papyrus motioned with his head back to the doorway they came in. “Come on, let’s head back out and figure out where we are.”

Papyrus stepped in front of Sans, about to lead the way again when a seductive laugh wafted from the ceiling. “Ohoho~ What sort of fine specimen do we have here~”

“Sans? Are you playing with me?” Papyrus turned his head to look at his brother, who gave him a dead-panned expression as if to ask, ‘really?’.

“Ahaha~ It looks to me like a pair of humans~ And brothers to boot~”

Sans eyes darted to the black ceiling above them, trying to pinpoint where the two voices were coming from. He was interrupted in his search though when Papyrus let out a shriek. “Sans, the door!”

Moving his head, Sans’ fear escalated when a giant mass of black creatures crawled down from the blackness and blockaded the closest exit. Spiders.

Taking a step back, Papyrus and Sans turned tail and ran deeper into the room, hoping to get to the exit on the other side before anything else could happen.

“Brothers~ Oh, this is too precious~ I bet they think they’re better than us~”

Papyrus started to take up the lead when something fell from the ceiling, cascading onto his face. He let out a loud shriek while trying to get the item in question off of his face. “Sans, I’m blind!!”

Stumbling, Papyrus smashed into Sans who was having a hard time running when his shoes kept sticking to the ground.

“I bet they think they’re love is greater than ours~”

Sans reached up to help his brother but Papyrus was squirming too much, hearing a loud, scuttling noise coming from all around them. Sans gasped when something, or a lot of things scurried over his feet, and suddenly his shoes were glued to the ground.

Papyrus had finally gotten the webs out of his face when he noticed the same thing, both of them reaching down to try and get their feet free but unsuccessfully getting their hands stuck as well.

“Sans, I don’t want to get eaten!” Papyrus whined, looking to his brother in the dim lighting with audible fear.

Sans tried to keep his smile on, but it quickly fell while he kept trying to get himself free. “J-Just don’t think about it, Papyrus. We’ll get out of here soon, I promise.”

Papyrus reacted more angrily to that remark than Sans thought, being completely ripped from his thoughts when his brother shouted at him. “Stop promising! Your promises are empty lies!! Just admit you’re scared!!”

“Enough!”

Both boys froze when they heard the loud screech. With backs arched, they turned to look at the darkness in front of them, where music wafted.

“My, these humans have such bad manners~”

“Indeed~ Bickering in someone’s abode? How rude~”

“We should teach them a lesson~”

“Yes, a lesson in love~”

As the music got louder, so too did the lights in the room become existent. The first thing both boys noticed was the massive hordes of spiders all around the room. They hanged from the ceiling, were huddled in giant groups, some were even grouped together and working together to play human-sized instruments.

But what really terrified the two boys were the two, giant figures that stood atop a platform of webs. They looked to be female, their skin the color of a pale purple and having four extra arms than a normal human was used to. When both smiled they showed off their onyx-colored fangs and jagged, black teeth.

The first one, whose long, brown hair fell down in curls and covered two of her five black eyes, wore a light brown ball gown with a dark brown, short sleeved jacket and long dark brown gloves on all six of her arms. The other female, whose sickly black hair was placed in a wavy bun atop her head, wore a bright red jumpsuit. Beyond the elbows and knees the suit changed from solid sleeves to giant ruffles of red with black accents, and the female had kicked up her height with giant, black pumps.

Sans couldn’t get over how terrifying these two females were, eyes glancing over to Papyrus who literally had his mouth hanging open in horror. However in his moment of fear Sans was suddenly snapped to a memory in his mind, remembering what Gerson had said when the two shared their little talk.

The skeletons were kept on the surface, while the spiders were banished to the Underground. So these two were probably the decedents of the children that had turned into horrible, spider creatures.

Bopping to the music created, both spider-girls regarded the two with contempt. “Welcome to our lair, humans~”

“I am Volare, and this is my dear sister, Charlotte~” The spider with the jumpsuit regarded her ball gown sister, while both of them started to sway their hips.

“There is no one in the Underground who can match our sisterly love for one another~” Volare extended her hand to Charlotte, which she took gladly. Pulling her over, Volare slid two of her arms around her sister, tipping her in a perfect arch to look at the two boys again.

“Our bonds of love were formed by our love for dancing~ There is no one who is better than us~” In bringing Charlotte back up her sister nimbly spun around her, arms sliding around her and resting her head beside Volare’s on her shoulder.

“You probably wish to leave~” Charlotte gave a small smile, eyes narrowing. “But you must prove your love for one another before you can go~”

“Yes, show us how much you two love one another through your dance~ Let the fiery passion for each other engulf your hearts~”

Sans and Papyrus soon felt another scurrying sensation go across their hands and feet, and suddenly they were free of their imprisonment. The first thing they both thought of doing was getting the heck out of there, but from the darkness two giant, purple symbols swung down and crashed into them.

Both boys hit into one another and should have fallen, if not for the fact that their legs suddenly felt like steel poles. A purple, glowing sensation traced around their bodies, and without their consent their bodies bopped to the music as well.

They could still run if they wished to, but then again there wasn’t really anywhere to run. Massive hordes of spiders covered the ground, save for a large circle of land around them.

“Prove to us that your love is stronger than ours~” Charlotte moved from behind her sister, both moving together in sync before opening their mouths to show their dripping saliva, wicked tongues and black teeth. “Or we will cherish each other’s company while feasting off of your corpses~”

Sans physically flinched back upon seeing the fifth ring of hell in their mouths. Yup, he couldn’t have been happier to know these two weren’t on the surface. But another fear soon cropped up and Sans quickly turned his head to Papyrus. “Papyrus, I can’t dance.”

He expected Papyrus to be shaking in his bopping, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. The flames of passion seemed to dance inside Papyrus’ irises, gazing down at his shorter brother. “Sans, I was born for this challenge!!”

Sans gritted his teeth, but fear kept him from being too mad. “But bro, I can’t **dance.** If we’re not good enough we’ll both get eaten.”

“Pish posh, let them try!” Papyrus placed his hands on his hips with pride radiating. “No one has ever beaten the Great Papyrus at a dance-match, and no one will! Just let me take the lead and copy what I do, ok?”

Sans really didn’t think this was going to work, considering how clumsy he could be when it came to moving his body. But when he looked at the twinkle in Papyrus’ eyes, how he had complete trust in him that they would make it, it helped him calm down.

“Alright, let’s do this then.” Sans turned to look back at the spider women, who leapt from their web to a few feet in front of them. They towered over Sans easily, and was almost a foot taller than Papyrus.

They swayed their hips in sync, giggling to see how confident Papyrus stood. “Oh, look at that radiance, Volare~”

“He thinks he can beat us, Charlotte~”

“I know we can!” Papyrus took a step forward to challenge the spider girls. “You name it and I can dance it all over your webs!”

Volare and Charlotte regarded one another before turning their heads up at him. “Let’s have your feet talk~”

“We’ll start with something simple; something your fat brother can follow with~” Sans gave both of the spider girls a rude glare, watching as Charlotte waved her hand and turned to look behind her. The head-bopping music from before had died down into a quiet, slow waltz.

Charlotte moved to her sister as Volare took her in her arms, glancing at Papyrus and Sans. “We’ll show you what we want to see, and you follow our lead~ Get too clumsy or fail and your fate is sealed, ahaha~”

Sans was a little shocked when Papyrus took a bold step in front of him, for once hiding Sans behind him. He narrowed his eyes; Sans had never seen Papyrus this serious since they had fallen down. “Bring. It.”

Charlotte smiled for Papyrus, then let her sister take the lead. “Foxtrot~”

With Volare leading, the two gave a small demonstration of what they were looking for, taking two steps forward and side-stepping. They repeated this two more times before giving a slow spin, with Charlotte’s dress ballooning to reveal her scarlet heels.

Sans didn’t have much time to watch after that as Papyrus bent over, clasping his brother’s hands. “Alright Sans; start with your right foot, then left, and side-step with your right. Got it?”

“No.” Sans was great at memorizing elements, equations and history to name a few. But movement? He couldn’t tell his right from his left, but then again he had done so well with dodging Sagiv’s attacks. Maybe he was getting better?

“You’ll pick it up.” Papyrus, not used to bending over this much started with his left, pushing Sans into moving back. Volare and Charlotte eyed Papyrus and Sans carefully as they continued to dance, watching Sans continuously stumble to make out his right and left, but Papyrus went slow for him.

Eventually both parties spun at the same time, with Volare noticing Papyrus wiggling his eyebrows in prideful success and looking straight at her during the spin.

She frowned. “Not bad, but let’s see you do something more difficult~”

Letting her sister spin out of her arms, Volare snapped one of her fingers as the music changed to a jazzier tone. Sans felt as though he were back at Grillbys’; half-expecting Papyrus to start bellowing out lyrics again.

“Jazz~” Charlotte announced, with both sisters in sync as they side-stepped from left to right, keeping their backs bent and snapping to the beat. After a few more repeats they swung their knees up to their bodies, giving a quick spin and stepping over to where Sans and Papyrus stood.

Both brothers stepped back in beat, with Sans leaning back in fear but Papyrus took it as a challenge when both gave him a contempt smile. Stepping back to the rhythm, it was now Papyrus and Sans’ turn to take the stage.

Papyrus didn’t skip a beat in following up with his dance, smoothly following their routine and even throwing in a few spins and hip shakes of his own. Sans however was left to try and mimic his tall brother, his body growing uncomfortably sweaty whenever both girls eyed him with disgust.

They seemed much more interested in Papyrus however, stepping back just like before when Papyrus moved into their space. He threw in his own confident smile, as if to ask, ‘is that all?’.

Both girls looked to one another with a more pleased look. “Hmm, not bad~ How about we turn this into a one-on-one, dear sister?”

“Oh, that sounds delicious~” With Papyrus moving back, Volare was the first to move out into the middle of the circle.

She beckoned Papyrus forward with one of her fingers, hands on her hips while she swayed with the music. “Let’s dance, human~”

Papyrus threw his chest up and proudly strutted to the center circle, while Charlotte and Sans were forced to sway to the beat in the background. Sans didn’t doubt his brother and his dance skills, he would surely survive this dance of death.

Him? Not so much.

“You seem like you know a dance or two~” Volare threw in a light conversation, taking long strides around Papyrus.

The tall brother didn’t keep his eyes off of her, turning his body in beat and in sync with her. “Nyeh, I was the best in my dance club. I’ve dabbled, much like yourself.”

“We’ll see~” Volare finally planted her feet, bouncing her body as Papyrus mimicked it. “Get funky with me and let’s Disco~”

Charlotte snapped her fingers, the music changing again to something more fitting for a groovy time. Volare took the lead, each set of arms doing a different move while Papyrus decided to do a few of his own.

Sans crossed his arms, knees bouncing while he watched these two dancers circle each other, keeping eye-contact while their bodies talked. He caught of glimpse of Charlotte eyeing Papyrus in a way he wasn’t comfortable with, her small, jagged teeth biting down on her lower lip.

“Mmm, you are good~” Volare finally spoke, deciding to stop and take a step back. She turned her head smoothly to Charlotte. “But I’ll share this spot-light~”

“Nyeh, so will I!” Papyrus started to move back, but Charlotte suddenly lost her composure.

“No!” Papyrus stopped, with Volare eyeing her sister oddly. Charlotte noticed that she had reached out two of her hands, retreating back to her body. “It wouldn’t be fair… if you only got him to yourself~ Let me take a crack at him~”

Volare and Charlotte exchanged glances, as if they were talking telepathically. While they were in this silence Papyrus gave Sans a sympathetic smile. “Guess I’m too good. But don’t worry, dear brother! You shall get your turn soon enough.”

“Keep going as long as you like.” Sans decided to bury a bit of his chin in his shirt, knowing the second he was thrown onto the field he would be eaten alive.

Papyrus shrugged with an innocent smile, but Sans didn’t see it when he noticed Volare give a sickly sweet smile to her sister and stepped back. Charlotte’ smile felt more genuine, then seductively walked to the center of the circle.

“Uh, bro.” Sans reached out his hand but only now noticed that Papyrus wasn’t as close as he thought, watching his brother hip-hoping back over to the ring. Oh no.

“Hello~” Charlotte breathed, with both of them starting to move in sync and waiting for the dance.

“Hello there.” Papyrus couldn’t see the metaphorical webs he was dancing into, cocking an eyebrow while giving the formal spider a confident smile. “What’s next? Hip-hop? Irish?”

“How about, Tango~” Charlotte leaned in a little too close for Papyrus’ liking as he leaned back. Another snap and the music came to a halt only to come back as one sassy piece of tango.

“What.” Was all Papyrus spoke before one of Charlotte’s hands grabbed his, pulling him out of his personal space and into hers.

Her hand took his other one while two of her hands gripped his hips, quickly taking the lead while Papyrus was forced to dance along in case of tripping. Sans gritted his teeth and looked to Volare, who also seemed surprised and upset at what her sister was doing.

When kicking their feet up Papyrus quickly turned his head to his brother in a cry for help. It was obvious he was not having fun with this dance competition anymore. Sans could only shrug though as when he tried to take a step into the circle a massive wave of spiders stopped him from going any closer.

“Dip me~” Charlotte cooed, and in fear of getting eaten right then and there Papyrus did as he was told.

This, however, was the straw on the camel’s back for Volare. “Charlotte!”

She grooved her way over to the scene, ripping her sister from Papyrus’ grasp and lightly shoving him away. Charlotte hissed at her sister. “I was only seeing how he faired with a real partner~ You honestly expect his brother to show off how he can dance?”

“Hey.” Sans’ eyes caught Papyrus when he spoke, who hopped on one foot back before regaining his ground. “My brother can be an excellent dancer! It just takes practice!”

Charlotte and Volare didn’t seem to hear him or didn’t care, with Volare letting her sister stand. “He is a novice at best, Charlotte~ You’re letting his moves cloud your judgment~”

She then pointed a sharp finger at Papyrus. “Pop and lock, go!”

“What?” Papyrus was confused for a moment, but when Volare answered back with a threatening hiss Papyrus burst into action. He darted back for the ring, his movements jerky as he performed the more advanced dance move.

In response the two spider girls were rather impressed, tip-toeing around the arena while calling out other moves for Papyrus to perform. “The Charleston!”

“Break-dancing!”

“The moon-walk!”

“Tap!”

“Ballet!”

“Balboa!!”

With each dance move Papyrus successfully showed off, the bigger the two sister’s eyes had grown. What was once mild fascination had become a craving lust, and Sans could see the deep hole his brother was digging.

Finally Charlotte couldn’t be a bystander no longer, shoving Volare down and throwing herself at Papyrus. “Ballroom!”

Papyrus only had time to exclaim, “Not again!” Before Charlotte had grabbed hold of him again and was forced into being her partner.

Volare recovered from the nasty push easily, charging after the two. “You can’t have him for yourself!”

Noticing Volare lunging at him, Papyrus used his newfound strength to forcefully spin Charlotte straight into her sister. The two knocked into each other as Charlotte lost her grip of Papyrus and both rolled to the ground.

Papyrus ran backwards and behind Sans, crouching to get smaller behind him while both watched the sister’s once ‘love’ change into heated jealousy. They snapped and grabbed at one another, pulling hair and kicking. “It’s my turn to dance with the human!”

“Go dance with the fat one, then!! You interrupted my finale!!”

“You go dance with him; I’ve had the tall human the least!!”

“Sans, females are frightening.” Papyrus weakly admitted, hoping that the two spider girls would forget about him.

Sans turned his head to look at his brother for a moment, nodding his head in agreement. “You think they’re going to let us leave alive?”

Papyrus quickly shook his head, with Sans thinking the same thing. “All in favor of running and praying we don’t get eaten?”

When Papyrus raised his hand he also took Sans under his arm, standing back up and sprinting for the other side of the room. In doing so however Volare and Charlotte noticed the two attempting to escape and pushed one another off of each other. “Don’t let them escape!!”

Papyrus’ long strides faltered and became small steps when he saw how many spiders were rushing to stop them, but he threw his initial fear aside and merely lunged over the forming walls of spiders. Sans gripped onto his brother’s shirt, trying to steady himself from shaking so much while Papyrus jumped, hopped and curved around forming spider columns and walls.

“Papyrus, the door!” Jerking from his brother’s movements, Sans held out a finger for Papyrus to use to see where he was pointing. The only other exit had spiders crawling all over it, preparing a web strong enough to hold them back and keep them in.

“You can’t escape, you dancer you~” Papyrus and Sans turned back to notice Volare and Charlotte casually walking over to where they had stopped for the moment, smiles bewitching and haunting.

“We’ll dance until the end of time, then we’ll dance over your grave~”

“Forgive me, Sans.” Papyrus announced, turning his body before running back over to the infested door-frame of spiders. “But I’m not staying!!”

Sans tried to protest, but he knew Papyrus was going too fast to really stop at this point. The fear within him burst into a raging fire, imaging them crashing into the blockade of spiders and having them rain down upon them. Their legs, their pinchers, that nasty feeling of having them crawl on bare skin.

The thought was too unbearable for Sans, deciding to close his eyes and wish for another way out. Another exit or someway past the spiders. Dear god, let them get out of this in one piece!

Sans’ left eye started to burn once more, imaging the hall on the other side of the spiders. They had to reach it, they had to escape!

While Sans wished for another way out, Papyrus had devoted himself to the fact that this plan probably wasn’t going to work. Judging from how sticky the spider’s web was on the ground in order to trap them, he whole-heartedly assumed he would just crash into it and get stuck. But if he didn’t try then he would be giving up, and there was no way he was going back for round 2 with those crazy spider girls.

However it seemed another path presented itself to the two boys, as the path before Papyrus completely blinked, and he wasn’t running to a door anymore. Confused and frightened Papyrus came to a complete halt, with Sans opening his eyes from the sudden, jerky stop. “Did we make it?”

“I-I don’t know.” Confused, Papyrus turned his head every which way before noticing where the door was. He spun around, showing Sans that the door-way they were about to smash into… was now behind them.

Even the spiders looked confused on how the heck the two boys had gotten past their defenses, with Volare’s voice being heard from behind the now done web. “Where did they disappear to??”

The spiders retreating, Volare and Charlotte stepped over to the web-made blockade, eyes widening to see Papyrus and Sans on the other side. “How did you get over there?”

“Uuuuhhh…” Papyrus simply let his voice go on like that, having no explanation or reason as to how this happened. Sans decided to keep silent, his left eye still burning but not as intense as before.

Actually, his forehead felt a bit hot now that Papyrus had stopped, wondering if the harsh elements of the Underground were finally starting to react with his terrible immune system.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes when staring at the two, her wicked tongue deciding to stick out. “Don’t think the chase is over, darling~ You’re still ours~”

“Welp, look at the time!” Having that nice break, Papyrus sped off while Charlotte and Volare set into motion the destruction of the web blockade.

Sans really wasn’t feeling good the more he shook, his grip on Papyrus leaving him to dangle in his brother’s arms. “I-I’m not feeling good, Papyrus.”

His feeble voice rose a pitch when Sans felt a familiar sensation crawl up his throat, basically slapping his brother on the side. “Put me down Pap, put me down!!”

“Wha-?” Papyrus stopped again only to have Sans push himself out of his brother’s hold. He fell to the ground before scampering over to the corner of the room they had just entered; relieving his stomach, throat and mouth of whatever the heck was trying to get out.

Papyrus backed away when he heard the initial upchuck, hand covering his mouth. “Oh ew, Sans! Not while we’re running from insane spider women!”

“S-Sorry, bro…” Sans weakly stuttered, his body shaking and stomach hurting from his episode. “I guess I just wanted-”

With Sans body hunched over what he had just thrown up, it was hard for Papyrus to see just what had happened. But Sans could clearly see what laid on the ground now, his face frozen in absolute horror.

Blood. Blood smeared the ground, stained his lips, started to stick to his pant legs; spreading out as if it were trying to crawl for freedom.

“Just wanted to what-?” Papyrus started to walk over, with Sans quickly turning to look at his brother.

He shook his head stubbornly, eyes begging. “No Pap don’t come over here. It-it’s pretty nasty to look at.”

Papyrus however was stubborn to, a frown digging into his lips out of concern. “Let me see.”

“No no Pap please, it’s ok.” Sans kept backing up the closer Papyrus got, until a young girl’s voice made itself known.

“You better not expect me to clean that up~”

Startled that Volare and Charlotte might have caught up, the two turned their heads to the center of the room, where light flickered off and on before steadying. Cobwebs and lines of webbing were strung around the room like decorations, with spiders hanging from the ceiling and a few scurrying on the ground. But in the center of the room was a dark purple table, lined with pink teacups, saucers, and two teapots arranged in an orderly fashion. Only one chair was present at the table, and there sat the monster who spoke.

Like Charlotte and Volare, she too was a spider girl, but much younger than the other two. Her five eyes were a deep shade of purple as her short, black hair was put up into two cute pigtails. She wore a fluffed, magenta dress with a few ruffles at the bottom, almost hiding her striped socks and black dress shoes. Her hands were delicately covered in lacy, white hand gloves.

She for the moment was taking a sip of her beverage, resting her saucer and teacup in her lap while staring at the two of them. She smiled when she saw the fear on their faces, her voice like that of a young child but spoke like a grown woman. “Ahuhuhu, why so scared, humans? Are you afraid of spiders?”

“Y-You’re not going to eat us, are you?” Papyrus stuttered. He would have run with Sans in tow, but after his brother’s episode he was in no condition to be shaken up or stirred.

The spider girl set her saucer on the table before her, resting her head in two of her fingers as if she was contemplating it. “Hmm, I do have a lovely teacake recipe that would be simply divine with humans tossed in~”

One of her hands reached for a slip of paper that was conveniently on the table, lifting it up to show to the boys. “But one of you two did us spiders a lovely favor~”

“Muffet!”

The girl was spooked to hear her name screeched, then turned angrily to the doorframe into her room. Charlotte and Volare stepped in sync into the room, noticing Papyrus and Sans in the right corner before back at Muffet. “Muffet, these humans aren’t for you~”

“But they escaped into my parlor, therefore they’re in my territory~” Muffet fought back, keeping her formal tone but Papyrus and Sans could hear the anger thrown in between.

“We saw them first~” Charlotte hissed while the hordes of spiders in the other room scurried to take up space in this new room.

Volare however held a hand up to Charlotte, a smile creeping onto her lips. “Muffet, you can have the fat human if you want~ I’m sure he would make a lovely pie~ But the tall one is ours~”

“I would rather stay here.” Papyrus weakly protested.

Knowing that if the spider girls had their way they would both be separated and probably killed, Sans decided to rise to his feet and do something about it. Papyrus, upon seeing his brother try to stand held his hands out to stop, but Sans wouldn’t listen. “You’re cheating us out of our escape.”

“Excuse us?” All three spider girls stared at Sans, who took a few wobbly steps forward. They didn’t look happy, but neither was Sans.

“You heard me. Papyrus beat your challenge, so by your word we can leave.”

“Hmph, how do you know that? We had many, many more dances prepared to make sure he was truly an exceptional dancer~” Charlotte spoke, though her confidence waivered the more she stared at Sans.

Perhaps it was how his blue eye seemed to glow, but suddenly this fat human they had taken for granted was a lot scarier than they had thought. He gritted his teeth. “You honor your word and let us leave. If you don’t-”

The lights quickly flickered as if to react to the situation, but the two spider girls saw something else when the lights flashed. They took a frightened step back from Sans as if they had seen a ghost. A flash of white, an insane grin, an icy, blue eye. “You’re going to have a bad time.”

The lights suddenly worked again, with Papyrus a little confused on what the heck happened. Charlotte and Volare were frozen for a moment, but were drawn back into reality when they heard Muffet snickering. They turned angrily to her, who was not trying to hide her laugh while she held her teacup.

Volare was the first one to pull herself together, with Charlotte hiding her hands behind her back and lifting her head up. “Yes, well, I suppose we should let the tall human leave~ He did best us at our own game~”

“But not him~” Charlotte suddenly took a step forward, pointing three index fingers at Sans. Her fear melted away for enjoyment. “He failed the challenge~ Your brother may leave, but you shall remain here as we feast upon your organs~”

She tipped her head up, as if she had bested the two. “Of course if you two share the brotherly love you so cling to, then the tall human could always stay in exchange for the life of this fat human~ Why, I even wager that-!”

“Hmm, that would be fun to watch~” Charlotte hissed when she turned to angrily stare at Muffet, who had interrupted her. She however didn’t care, getting up from her seat only to walk right over to Sans. “But I have a question to ask myself~”

Sans leaned back when Muffet got too close for his liking, staring him down with all five of her eyes. “You there, dearie~ My letter says that one fat human helped my spiders get into the Ruins safe and sound~ Was that by chance, you?”

Sans quickly nodded his head. “I-uh, didn’t want them to freeze, that’s all.”

“He did what?” Volare and Charlotte hovered behind Muffet, who quickly threw her arm up with the letter in her hand.

She gave both of the two older girls a dull look. “Read it for yourself~”

Volare snatched the paper out of Muffet’s hand, reading it over with Charlotte leaning in to catch a glance. Their eyes only got bigger the farther they got down on the paper, but Muffet didn’t let them finish before she giggled. “Ahuhu, you are a gentlemen to the spiders~ We thank you for being such a help and caring about our kind~”

Two of her hands snatched at San’s blue jacket, pulling him very close to Muffet’s face. She still kept her sickly sweet smile, but her eyes were very malicious. “However, they also wrote that you decided to take one of our spider donuts without paying for it…~”

Sans’ hand reached for his pant pocket, about to start bargaining for his life by wagering all that he had in wallet… but then he remembered that his wallet was probably snowed over on the trail to Snowdin.

Muffet’s smile only grew when she saw the fear blossom in Sans’ eyes. “What’s the matter, human? You don’t have any money to pay for my goods with? Thought that you could justify stealing a donut for doing such a heroic act?”

Volare and Charlotte gave each other a wicked smile, starting to giggle when Muffet snapped her head at them. “Don’t think he’s yours~ My merchandise, so he belongs to me~”

Sans didn’t think he ‘belonged’ to Muffet like Papyrus would have belonged to Charlotte and Volare. He brought his shoulders up into a shrug. “I-I can pay you back, I just-”

“Have no fear, brother!” Muffet let up on her grasp for a second as everyone stared at Papyrus, who was walking over to the scene and minding his step. In his hand was his wallet, to which he stopped and crouched down to get eye-level with Muffet. “The Great Papyrus can easily cover my brother’s bill with a few bucks of his own!”

Muffet, tired with Sans, let him go while turning her attention to Papyrus. “Oh, so you have my fifty G~”

“Fifty G? For a donut?” Papyrus seemed skeptical, but when Muffet’s smile only grew he quickly gave in. “Ok, let’s see what I have.”

Sans watched as his brother sorted through his dollar bills, taking a long time to count out how much he had because math. But he had what he needed, plus an empty wallet. He sadly put the cash in Muffet’s open palm. “There, fifty bucks.”

Muffet grasped the money, bringing it close to her face and examining it. If she had a nose, it would have wrinkled in disgust, staring back up at Papyrus. “What is this? This isn’t G~”

“It’s fifty dollars!” Papyrus gestured his hand to the money, but Muffet was still confused. “I’ll have you know I worked hard for those fifty bucks, mowing lawns and walking dogs.”

Papyrus frowned. “So many annoying dogs.”

“Surface money?” Muffet pursed her lips, but soon smiled and pocketed it away. “Hmm, that could be useful when we reach the surface~ I’ve never had foreign currency before~”

She regarded Sans with a light wave of her hand, deciding to pull out one of her bills and stare at it quizzically. “You’re both free to go~”

“You can’t just let them go!” Volare and Charlotte circled around Muffet, clearly upset with hisses.

Muffet hissed right back, lowering her bill. “You set yours free, I set mine free~ Therefore, yes, I can~”

With a cute spin Muffet turned her back on the humans and walked further into the darkness of their home, regarding her new money with interest. Charlotte and Volare looked at one another with disappointment before back at the two humans with disgust, following after Muffet.

“Oh, and dearie~” Muffet slowly turned her head back, eyes locking with Sans. Her eyes were deadly. “I hope that donut was delicious~”

The last thing Papyrus and Sans saw before they disappeared into the dark was Volare trying to grab for the bill in Muffet’s hand before she slapped it away.

Safe to say, Papyrus and Sans left the spider’s home rather quickly. In exiting the dark abode the two found themselves back to the ocean of lava and intense heat. A staircase was to the left of them to land beyond what they could see, and two monsters seemed to be sitting at the edge of one of ledges. One a skinny rabbit and the other a rather buff reptile.

Papyrus had gone eerily silent once they were able to leave the spider’s lair, while Sans was trying to make sense of everything that had happened. His thoughts couldn’t get off of the giant blood stain he had produced, yet he felt _better_ after puking. As if he didn’t need that extra blood.

Sans remembered that Papyrus was with him, quickly putting on a smile for his brother. “Heh, that was a pretty ‘sticky’ situation, huh Papyrus?”

Papyrus didn’t respond nor turn his head to look at his brother. Sans felt his nerves start to act up, his smile getting more forced. “It made my skin want to ‘crawl’ away…. We were caught in some ‘web’ back there… Look, I ‘spi-der’ a way out of the Underground…”

Smile threatening to fall off of his face Sans rushed in front of his brother, trying once more with his puns. “Heh, now that I’m all empty I could use a ‘bite’ to eat. Do you want to ‘catch’ some food?”

His eyes by now were pleading from Papyrus’ silence, hungry for his attention. “Wh-Why aren’t you saying anything, Papyrus? You usually hate my jokes.”

“Blood.”

Sans sweat ran cold, watching his brother’s head tilt down to look at him. His eyes were a mixture of anger, disappointment, and sorrow. “Your puke, it was nothing but blood.”

As if to lose some of his resolve Papyrus’ eyebrows angled upwards, his lips wavering. “Something is happening to you, Sans. You’re **not** ok, physically, mentally, everything. And yet…”

Sans watched as Papyrus’ trembling fingers transformed into fists, as if to relieve him of some of this stress. “You continue to hide it. Do you… do you not trust me? Do you think I’ll make fun of you? Push you away?”

Reluctantly Sans brought his hands up, as if to hide behind them. “What? Don’t be silly bro, of course I-!”

Papyrus then took a drastic step forward, while Sans stumbled back with his own. He bent down to get closer to Sans, who now clung to his jacket. “I’m your brother, Sans! Your older brother! For everything, you’ve been there for me! You’re my joking buddy, my shoulder to cry on, you’ve-you’ve been there more times than I can count.”

Papyrus eyes shifted away for a moment, his voice getting quiet. “You’re my only friend, my only family.”

His eyes hardened and suddenly his anger came back with a new intensity. From how bright his orange eyes glowed, Sans eyes were only on his orange tears. “And yet you continue to hide from me! Why are you so scared, Sans?! Why can’t you just open up and let me help you?!”

Both arms were swung to the side. “For the longest time I let you be because I thought that one day, you might finally share with me your misery, your fears and your hopes. I let you lie; I let you divert the subject.”

Papyrus shook his head. “But not anymore. I mentally can’t look away and pretend that you’re going to be ok. Look at yourself!!”

In the heat of the moment Papyrus grabbed Sans’, stifling a gasp from the younger brother. “You’re not ok, Sans!! Your health is terrible, you hide behind that smile of yours, your eye is blue and now you’re puking up blood! How can you live with yourself and continue to run away, from everything?! Why are you letting yourself live this miserable life?!”

Papyrus gave Sans back his space, back straightening and arms hanging to the side. Sans wasn’t able to move though, too scared from his nightmare coming to life. His orange eyes bore holes into his soul and heart, leaving nothing to the imagination.

He could see through him.

“I spent fifty bucks just to get you back, Sans. So now you owe me.”

Papyrus narrowed his eyes. “And there’s only one way you can repay me back. Help me help you, Sans, and we’re not moving from this spot until you tell me everything.”


	14. Level 13

The day had come. The one day Sans had dreaded since he had made his decision long ago; the day he thought he could keep avoiding and never come across.

The day when Papyrus cared too much.

This whole trip Sans had been through hell and back, been hit and bruised, almost killed and insulted to his face. But this… this was the worst offense.

Hands balling into fists, Sans lowered his head while he spoke through gritted teeth. “You think you know me? You think you can say that I’m not happy? That my life is miserable??”

Taking a dangerous step forward, Sans reared his head at his brother, his tone having escalated to shouting. “You don’t know anything about me!! What I’ve been through, what I put up with every day of my life!!”

“You’re right Sans, I don’t know you!” Papyrus met Sans’ step with one of his own, throwing his arms into the air. “Do you know what’s it like, to have a stranger for a brother?! I want to get to know you, I want to be there for you, but you don’t let anyone in!! You won’t let anyone help!”

“Who says I need help, huh? I didn’t ask for it!!” Already Sans could feel his tears drip down his cheeks, his body shaking from how much pent-up anger he had held onto inside. “You think some talk is going to make me feel better? That all my troubles will go away?! You know nothing!!”

“Then tell me everything!!” Papyrus matched Sans’ tone of voice, with flames of orange and blue disappearing into the sky from their eyes. “At least let me try!!”

“No, I don’t want you to try!” The deeper Sans spoke from the heart, the more it felt like he was slowly dying. In releasing his anger, Sans also broke the reserve of depression that was bottled from within. His shouts dwindled into pathetic cries. “I-I don’t want you to know… I just want you to be happy… to not worry about me…”

When Papyrus saw the damn that was ready to burst in Sans’ eyes he let his arms fall to his sides. The anger in his eyes dispersed into misery, asking an innocent question. “Do you think I’m happy to see you like this, Sans?”

Sans withdrew from Papyrus’ hurt gaze, arms wrapping around his body. He shook his head stubbornly, eyes so wide and mouth refusing to close. Thing’s shouldn’t be like this.

He couldn’t know.

“Um... like, excuse me…”

Frightened by the new voice, Sans spun around and backed up into Papyrus, who held his brother’s shoulders in a comforting way. The figures they had seen before stood a few feet from the two, whose faces reflected how uncomfortable they looked.

The first being was a white bunny, who couldn’t have been older than a teenager at the time but looked like a child. He had a swirl of blonde hair atop his fur, with soft black eyes, a cute pink nose and fur that was so soft you could sleep on it.

The creature beside the rabbit was a reptile that was a little taller than the rabbit. He looked to be a young adult, with stern yellow eyes, while a bandana covered his snout and mouth from being seen. The two both wore tank tops; the rabbit’s blue while the reptile’s was green, black pants and boots.

The rabbit appeared to be the one that had spoke, though now that the human’s attention was on them he seemed more reluctant to continue. “Uh, I know you bros are like, havin’ a moment and all but-”

The white rabbit gazed up at his reptile friend for reassurance, to which the creature gave him with a nod of his head. The simple nod was all the rabbit needed to bring forth a small smile, lifting his hands up to his chest area. “We sort of heard you two talkin’ and it sounds like you two have a lot of baggage to sort through. So like, me and my bro were wondering if you wanted to have some one-on-one with a complete stranger. You know, get your feelings out and stuff.”

Papyrus eyed Sans, who met his gaze for a second before his eyes darted away. Papyrus really felt like he was making progress, but there was one barrier that prevented him from really opening Sans up. And honestly he really needed someone to talk to besides Sans for the moment.

With a loud sigh Papyrus nodded his head. “You know what? Yeah, I could use a talking buddy.”

“Really?” The rabbit seemed more excited now with a bright, cherry red enveloping his cheeks. “This is like, super radical! We can pop over to the restaurant in the hotel and chat for as long as you need.”

“That’s sounds great, actually.” Papyrus smiled back to how enthusiastic this rabbit was, walking over to meet up with him and start their merry trip up the stairs.

Sans however wasn’t happy that his brother ditched him after opening so many wounds, giving the reptile man a bit of a cold stare. He couldn’t really read how the reptile felt about this or if he even cared, but when he spoke his voice was as low as they come. “…You want food?”

Sans was about to shake his head when his stomach answered that question for him. Bitterly he nodded his head, and the reptile motioned with his hand to follow after Papyrus and the rabbit.

After climbing some rather steep stairs, Papyrus soon found himself sitting at a dressed table to a packed restaurant. There were all sorts of different monsters here, dining and getting along with one another. There were families, young dates, old monsters reminiscing about the days of youth and groups of friends just having a good time.

The restaurant itself, while rather small since it was conjoined to the humble hotel, held a certain homey feel that Papyrus liked. The walls were wallpapered in stripes and curves, there were potted plants in nearly every corner, and lots of pictures hung from the walls show-casing works of art done over the ages by monsters.

The painting that caught Papyrus’ eyes was the one staring in front of him. It was the biggest piece in the restaurant, with a large mountain in the background, colored in grays and tans, with a path leading from the lush, green vegetation in the background to a cavern just beneath the mountain. Just above the tip of the mountain there resided a symbol Papyrus felt he had seen before, which was a circle with wings and three triangles beneath it. On the trail were loads of monsters carrying bags and other supplies, but it was the two monsters leading the group into the cavern that bespectacled Papyrus.

The two were bigger than the other monsters and resembled what Papyrus could only call goat monsters. The one that looked male held a long, red spear and used it as a walking stick, his blue cloak billowing behind him to reveal battered armor with a dented crown atop his head. The female behind him looked melancholy, her crown a silver unlike the King’s which was gold, while she wore long, billowing robes of purple and blue. A small group of human children walked around her and she held the hand of one of the children, while her other arm carried a small infant.

The children, although they appeared human, had little features that no human would have, such as one having a long tail or another with horns. Why there were humans-like children with the monsters Papyrus didn’t understand.

After staring at the picture long enough Papyrus’ eyes drifted over to the other end of the restaurant, where he noticed Sans tapping his fingers on the table. He didn’t look too comfortable with this idea, and while Papyrus wasn’t the first person to go and tell his life’s story to random strangers, this time felt a bit different. Probably due to the fact that him and his brother had been chased their whole time through the Underground.

“So, I caught that you and your bro aren’t, like, meshing well and stuff.” The rabbit started, placing his elbows on the table.

“That would be the short version.” Papyrus peeled his eyes away from Sans, letting out an irritated huff. “It’s just that he never likes to talk about his feelings. I know he’s suffering, but he won’t let me help.”

“Has your brother always been so mellow?” The rabbit asked, opening one of his palms as a light gesture.

“Actually, no.” Papyrus scrunched his eyebrows together, staring intently at the table cloth. “He used to tell me everything. But that all stopped when I turned ten.”

Sans kept his eyes on his brother the moment they walked into the restaurant, wondering just what he could be telling this complete and total stranger. From the way he stared at the table cloth it didn’t look like things were going too well.

Blinking, Sans let his eyes drift through the paintings adorned on the wall. One in particular caught his gaze, giving it more attention than the others. It was a school of choir boys all huddled and smiling underneath the beating sun, with healthy trees and green grass surrounding them. What was peculiar about the painting was the mixture of human boys and monster children, being split into two equal groups of seven.

Among the monster boys, there was one rabbit, two reptiles, a cat, one fish, and two parrots. The yellow rabbit had two humans in around it while a purple snake ran from a boy with his arms in the air. A grey fish and green cat held hands in the middle of the picture and a blue lizard laid in the grass off towards the left. Sans pursed his lips when looking at the two parrots, with the blue one slinging an arm over the green one in a playful manner, while the green parrot looked off-guard.

Letting out a puff of air, Sans turned his attention back over to the unexpected guest he was dinning with. He cocked an eyebrow, mildly annoyed. “So, you going to ask me any questions? Get me to talk about my life and all my emotional trauma?”

“No.” The reptile didn’t seem to pay that much attention to Sans, instead glancing over the menu they had been given.

Sans however was a little confused. “No?”

An annoyed smile crept unto Sans’ face. “Hey doc, I don’t think you’re doing your job right. See, you’re supposed to berate me with questions, and I’m supposed to be stubborn and not comply.”

The reptile eyed Sans, but then they slowly went back to his menu.

Sans’ smile fell, paying more attention to his guest than he did before. “Yo-you’re seriously not going to question me?”

The reptile did not respond, merely giving Sans a bit more attention than usual. His eyes were questionable, but not as to why Sans was upset. It was more so why he was surprised he wouldn’t question him.

“That must be a bummer, havin’ a brother that never speaks.” The rabbit gave an apologetic smile to Papyrus when he gave him a glance, his ears perking a bit. “Like, I have two sisters back where I’m from. They yakked the place up so much; I couldn’t hear my own thoughts.”

Papyrus absentmindedly chuckled, noticing their waiter bring them some water. “Sounds like a loud household. There were so many times when I woke up my parents for being too loud at night.”

He closed his eyes, a grin revealing itself. “But bedtimes and silence could never stop the Great Papyrus!”

“Bro, you sound just like my sisters. Even when Dad told them to like, chill, Mary would just do her own thing.”

“Mary?” Papyrus opened his eyes, glancing over at his companion who had taken his drink in hand.

He absentmindedly took a sip. “Yeah, Mary and Carrie. You like, know them?”

Sans wasn’t used to such silence. Even when the waiter came around to give them their water, the reptile gave a nod of thanks but didn’t verbally thank him. In every situation Sans had been thrust into, this was the first where the companion he sat with wasn’t such a chatterbox.

He didn’t know how to feel.

Eyeing his water, Sans realized how thirsty he was. He grabbed the cold glass quickly, swigging a few gulps down as loud as he could. When he placed the glass back on the table, huffing from lack of oxygen, he looked over to the reptile only to notice that he wasn’t paying attention.

A sorry smile spread across his lips, eyes pleading. “Sorry if I was too loud. I’ve been so thirsty; you could mistake me for a fish.”

But the reptile didn’t pay mind to Sans, whose fingers tensed from the lack of attention.

“They did what?” The rabbit’s ears shot straight up in alarm, while Papyrus was drinking the last of his water.

He released a cold breath of air from his cold drink, giving a nervous smile back. “Well, I really found them with Sans first, but we lost them when-”

Papyrus stopped himself when he remembered this wasn’t Sans he was talking to. His mouth hung open for a second before his voice returned. “-When we fell down into the dumps. I lost my footing and Sans grabbed me, but it wasn’t enough to keep us up.”

“Those girls.” The rabbit shook his head stubbornly, but he still kept his smile. “Pa must be, like, freakin’ out and givin’ them such a talk for totally leavin’ Snowdin.”

“They never mentioned you though.” Papyrus rested one of his elbows on the table.

The rabbit shrugged his shoulders with a loose chuckle. “I doubt they would. They were like, really upset when I decided to join the Royal Guard.”

That was the magic word Papyrus didn’t want to hear. He sat up while sweat started to form on his brow. “Royal Guard?”

“Well, Royal-Guard-Knight-in-training.” The rabbit didn’t seem to notice Papyrus’ nervousness. “There are, like, a few of us who seriously want to become the next knights and stuff. They labeled me 01, and my bro is 02.”

He then pointed over to the reptile before placing his hand back on the table. “The Royal Guard is supposed to be super cool and totally gnarly, helpin’ monsters and protectin’ the public. I’ve only been here for like, two months or so, but I know that this was my true callin’.”

“That… sort of sounds like the Military.” Papyrus’ arched his eyebrows as 01 turned to him.

He cocked an eyebrow. “The Military? What’s that?”

Sans was getting very tired of the silence. True, he could take it when he was by himself, but he was unsuccessful with his attempts to read his dinner buddy, so he hadn’t the foggiest idea if he actually was here for him or not.

But he couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“I fold.” 02 angled his menu down when Sans spoke, eyeing him again.

Sans, who was relieved that 02 was paying attention to him again, let his smile disappear for a natural frown, his true face. “I’m not used to people giving me the silent treatment. Usually it’s the opposite, especially in Papyrus’ case. ‘Are you ok’, ‘why don’t you talk’, ‘why won’t you let me help’.”

Sans gave himself a pitiful chuckle. “As if anyone could help. My grave’s been dug; all that’s left is to bury me.”

Sans expected the same treatment he had been getting from 02 to be the same here as he rambled, but he was surprised when he instead laid a scaly hand on his shoulder. Sans drew a breath in, not used to physical contact and looked away, but was coaxed back when he heard that low voice again. “Tell me.”

Moving his head back to look at 02, Sans shrugged his hand off of his shoulder. “What is there to tell? Just take one good look at me, and you’ll know why. What do you see?”

02 cocked an eyebrow in where Sans was going with this. Sans however brought his hands up to gesture at himself, pity in his eyes. “You see a fat kid, right? Someone who has no drive to keep healthy. So I’m not athletic, obviously, so that must mean I’m smart right?”

The cry for help in Sans’ eyes, it was almost hard to bear. “Yeah, I am smart. I’m really smart, the Einstein of the family. People have been telling me that I would go on to do great things, help everyone with my gift.”

Closing his eyes, Sans let his pitiful chuckles bubble forth. “But you know what’s so funny? I don’t care. I don’t care to help others, or make history. I never wanted this gift, but now that everyone knows that I’m smart, no one will leave me alone. I’m supposed to be top of the class. I’m supposed to go to the best school and then use my smarts to change the world. Anything less and I’m ‘squandering my gift’, I’m ‘not right in the head’ or ‘I haven’t realized my destiny yet.’”

Sans chuckles slowly transformed into a lightly insane laugh. “Destiny? Get real! How do you know what I want to do? How do you know what’s best for me?

“They all think Papyrus is nothing but trouble. Holding me back from what I should be doing. But honestly, he’s the only thing keeping me sane now. He’s been the best thing about my miserable life.”

Elbows on the table, Sans gripped his head, staring at the table cloth. “My life has been nothing but hell ever since they realized I was smart. If I could rewrite time, I would make sure I acted dumb as rocks so that no one had expectations. So that no one cared about me, or thought I had potential or wrote my life for me.”

Sans’ fingers tensed on his head, eyes wandering over to Papyrus. “That way… no one would have the justification to separate us…We could be carefree forever…”

“Man, the Military sounds just like the Royal Guard, bro.” 01 nibbled on the complementary breadsticks that had been brought out while Papyrus had gone on about what the Military was. “Just like, not with knights.”

“Being a knight sounds way cooler though.” Papyrus argued, deciding to grab one of the warm breadsticks in the basket they were brought in.

He was about to take a bite, but a thought occurred to him, setting it down. “I’m still unsure about the Military though. My dad says I would be really great in it, that this is what my path is in life. I would save so many people; they would call me a hero.”

Papyrus’ spirits began to rise, though they diminished with another thought. “I would love to help people, like you, but…this might sound crazy, but it never felt like my choice.”

“You mean like someone’s makin’ you?” 01 munched on his breadstick, talking with his mouth full which disgusted Papyrus a little, but reminded him of a nicer time.

“Nah, I mean… well…” Papyrus’ eyes drifted over to Sans, who looked like he was having a great time with 02 with all his laughing. “I wasn’t the greatest at school. I’m pretty stupid when it comes to it, actually. I was picked on a lot because of it, or held back because of my grades. My mom and dad used to encourage me that I would eventually understand the material, but after awhile that encouragement stopped. They had given up on me.”

Papyrus trained his eyes on his drink, giving himself a pitiful smile. “A lot of people gave up on me. Friends, family, Sans was the only one who kept telling me I would pass or help me. I still wander why he stuck around with me sometimes.”

Papyrus shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. “I mean, he has so much going for him. He’s super smart, he has a bright future. With his grades and smarts, he could do anything he wanted, go anywhere he wanted. But I…”

A sad chuckle sprouted from Papyrus’ lips. “I’ll be lucky if a fast-food joint hires me. I have very little options, so I don’t really get the privilege to dream. It’s not fun, having everyone expect nothing from you or not care where you end up. For once, I’d like someone else to care about me, to expect something out of me. Give me a drive.”

He angled his head back over to 01. “If I could go back, I would make sure I studied extra hard, focus more on books than sports. That way people would care about me, and perhaps… me and Sans wouldn’t have to separate so soon. If I was smart, we could travel the world together, helping everyone with our brains than muscles. But as I am now, I feel like I’m just holding him back.”

Sans only moved when he felt 02 nudge him in the shoulder. He lifted his head up from his hands, noticing that he was holding an old, faded picture. 02 glanced at him before back at the photo, lightly waving it as if he was waiting for Sans to take it.

Hesitantly Sans took the photo, noticing that it was a family all lined up for the picture. There was a rather burly mom, a skinny dad, and five little reptile children, with three being taller and buffer than the others.

“Is this-” Sans glanced back at 02, who nodded his head.

“…Three decades ago. A human came by.”

“Just three decade ago?” Sans could feel his heart tighten like it was holding its breath, head turning back to study the photo closer. “Wait, how old are you?”

When 02 didn’t respond Sans went back to staring at the photo. He lightly smiled, “I’m guessing one of these beefed kids is you, right?”

To Sans’ surprise, 02 shook his head. He then leaned over Sans, pointing to the scrawniest and smallest of the children.

“That’s you?” Sans gave the child another look over, whose fangs were crooked and eyes were warm. He gave 02 another look-over, suddenly making sense in his mind why he wore a bandana, but not why his eyes were so cold.

Sans took an uncomfortable gulp. “What happened?”

He held out the photo for 02 to take, which he did. Sans watched as he gazed at the photo again, his eyes growing soft like he was remembering another time. “…I lost my mom. The human overpowered her.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that.” Sans shifted his gaze away, staring at his now heavy pant pocket.

02 didn’t respond to Sans’ sympathy, he simply blinked while still looking at the photo. “…We couldn’t stop the human alone. My siblings held them down, while I delivered the kill. My mom protected our village, but with her gone, someone needed to step up and take her place.”

Done with the phot0, 02 tucked the photo back away into his bandana. “…Monsters were scared to step up, to take that responsibility. I didn’t want to, but I took her place. Because they needed someone to look up to.”

02 turned his head to look at Sans, for the first time giving him all of his attention. “I joined the Royal Guard to protect those who can’t protect themselves. I could have done much more with my life, this wasn’t the path I wanted. But if I don’t step up, if I don’t do what’s better for the greater whole, who would?”

Sans bit his lower lip, as if the truth was too hard to swallow. 02 shifted his gaze back to the breadsticks that had been placed at their table, grabbing one to munch on it. He spoke no more.

“Havin’ expectations isn’t that fun, bro.” Papyrus, who was tapping one of his breadsticks on the table, turned his attention over to 01.

01 gave a half-hearted smile. “You must have seen the crib I lived in, right? Snow everywhere, people lazin’ about. Too mellow for my tastes. Since I was the oldest, Pa expected me to like, take over the hotel when I was old enough.”

As if he was back in Snowdin 01 stared off in front of them, lightly chuckling. “I mean, could you see me in that stuffy place, standin’ behind that counter from 8 to 5? No thanks.”

01 leaned back in his seat, placing his arms behind his head. “Pa wasn’t happy when I told him my destiny was to join the Royal Guard. Like, real mad bro. Mary and Carrie were also mad, but they just go along with how Pa feels. ‘Too dangerous’ he would scream, ‘you’re not strong enough for the Royal Guard’.”

“Did he change his mind?” Papyrus asked, noticing that his breadstick had gone cold and set it down.

01 shook his head. “Nah, he never came around. I knew my place wasn’t there, so I packed my things and left.”

Papyrus’ eyebrows shot up, as if the notion was crazy. “Just like that? Didn’t you feel sad, or your dad didn’t try stopping you?”

“Oh he tried.” 01 gave a bittersweet smile. “Told me if I flew the coop I was like, not welcome back. But that’s ok, I know they can’t stay boilin’ forever. And if they are, well, that’s the roll of the dice.”

01 sat back up, resting his elbows on his table while looking to Papyrus. “I belong here, in the Royal Guard. I know here I’ll like, make a difference; I’ll be able to help people and live my dream. See, we only have one life, right? So why should we conform to what others want from us? We should all be free to choose what we want to do in life, no matter what anyone says.”

01 grabbed Papyrus’ cold breadstick, holding it in his hands. “Because if we like, just go with the flow, eventually-”

To emphasize his next words 01 snapped the breadstick in half, placing it on the table. “We’re just goin’ to snap. Livin’ an unhappy life, no one wants that.”

“I haven’t really thought about it like that.” Papyrus pushed his lips to one side, eyebrows furrowed as he thought to himself all the times his dad kept reassuring him the Military was his destiny. It still sounded like a nice option, but the more he thought of joining the worse the flutter of butterflies became in his stomach.

While Papyrus contemplated what had been given to him, the lights in the restaurant slowly dimmed. Sans and Papyrus looked up from their seats to the only shining light in the restaurant, which so happened to be where the make-shift stage was in the middle of the room.

A young, brown cat in a glittering dress held a mic to her mouth, the cord being plugged into a small, portable amp. “Good evening, monsters! For our special guest joining us tonight, we have a newcomer here to entertain us! He’s grey, he’s rectangular, and he’s ready to make you fall in love with him! Give it up for our newest performer, Mettaton!!”

The crowd of monsters lightly clapped while the sound of a squeaky wheel slowly moved over to the center light. The cat woman smiled and handed the mic over to the shrouded figure, who took the stage with a light hop.

Both Sans and Papyrus were shocked to see a robot up on stage, both turning their heads to look at one another but unable to from how dark the restaurant got. The robot looked simple in design from the back at least, being composed of a rectangle, two arms with giant, white gloves, and two metal frames supporting a small wheel at the bottom.

The robot, Mettaton, seemed to wheel back and forth for a moment before drastically turning to face the audience, showing off the several, yellow screens that composed its ‘face’, and four dials beneath the screen. Nearly two-thirds of the screens were filled with red, giving off the impression of a face.

“Goooood evening, beauties and gentle-beauties!” Mettaton announced, his voice robotic and yet very smooth and deep for a machine. He rocked side-to-side on his wheels, twirling one of his fingers around the cord of the mic he held. “From the look of the crowd tonight, I can already tell this is going to be one fabulous performance! You all deserve your own round of applause for coming to witness my rise to stardom!”

Mettaton continued to speak, but Sans was having a hard time listening. His forehead felt clammy and hot again, his breathing irregular. Shoving his seat back, he excused himself from 02 and started to head for the back door, hoping that some air outside would calm him down.

In stumbling to the door he accidentally bumped into someone who was standing nearby and watching the show. “E-excuse me.”

“Oh! S-Sorry…” The nasally voice replied, their voice drawing out as if they were about to ask something. Sans however pushed on through the door to the outside before they had time to muster the courage and ask. His stomach was gurgling in a way that made Sans nauseous, hoping he wasn’t going to puke some more blood.

Trying to get his mind off of his swelling sickness, Sans decided to pay more attention to the bridge in front of him. The rickety structure connected two giant masses of land which stood tall from the sea of blistering red and orange just beneath it. On his side was the small restaurant and hotel establishment. On the other, a machine so tall and complex that Sans wondered how such a building could have been built.

“Magnificent, is it not?”

Sans realized all too late that there was another monster with him outside. Frightened he spun on his heels to turn around, half-expecting Sagiv to be standing there with his bow in hand and foot up to kick him into the lava.

However it wasn’t Sagiv behind him, though who it was Sans didn’t know. The monster was very tall, so tall in fact that it hurt Sans’ neck to try and stare up that high. Black robes dripped down the relatively thin body this monster had, only to pool when melting to the floor. A black hood hid the monster’s identity. The only thing Sans could see were the bony hands that clacked when touched together and the huge holes that made up the palms.

Sans didn’t know if this monster was a threat or not, but decided not to jump to any hasty conclusions. “Yeah, a real piece of art.”

The monster drew closer to Sans, who had to will himself to stay put and not move backwards. On this tiny space of land, where even a few steps meant falling into a pit of boiling lava made Sans’ knees lock up.

“They say it powers the whole Underground; it’s what gives our world light when there is none to be found.” The monster’s words were sort of hard to hear through his accent, as if he had stored a bunch of gumballs underneath his tongue and was speaking from the back of his throat.

Sans wondered what the monster’s first language was while deciding to play along. Though if he said he wasn’t interested in what was said he would have been lying. “So it’s like a giant lamp. That’s a pretty ‘bright’ idea there.”

The monster chuckled. “It does more things than just ‘light’ up the monster’s lives.”

Sans moved his hands to his pockets, a happy grin surfacing on his face to hear the monster play along with his puns. “Heh, good one.”

Moving to sit, the monster still towered over Sans when he took his place at the edge of the chasm, his robes falling down the side but not dripping into the lava. Sans decided to keep his stance however, a little too uncomfortable with the idea of sitting on the edge to death.

The monster’s hands slowly moved to one another, before intertwining. “I will be frank with you; I have been following you and your brother on your journey.”

The nerves that had started to spill out of Sans were suddenly sucked back in. Sans hitched a breath, but the monster didn’t wait for him to respond. “I will say, you two have been doing a remarkable job at staying alive. Your bond for one another is inspiring, an anomaly to sibling relationships, yet refreshing.”

Sans felt the familiar feeling of his teeth clicking against one another, muscles tightening in his chest and arms. He wondered why this monster decided to suddenly show itself if it had been following them this whole time, hostility imminent in his eyes.

“I understand your reason to be suspicious.” The monster suddenly spoke. “But I came here to warn you, not fight you. Gerson spoke to you about your past, and I will spare you the long explanation as you don’t have much time.”

“You’re talking about me and Pap’s condition, right?” Sans decided to throw the monster a bone, to which the figure nodded its head.

“Yes that. If we’re both lucky, then nothing will come from it. The magic that has been stored will eventually dissipate, so long as it’s not agitated.” As if to show with his hands the monster moved a few fingers through the hole in his left palm.

Still however the creature kept facing forward like it was talking to the machine rather than Sans. “The longer you and your brother hang around monster magic, the more it will be drawn to your monster soul. The human side of you has an unknown source of power, something us monsters don’t have, that keeps the body stable when a human dies and the soul to stay far longer than any monster soul.”

The monster’s fingers settled into his lap, but twitched as if they were trying to understand what they were saying themselves. “This _determination_ is what makes you humans stronger than all monsters put together, no matter how powerful our magic is. Under normal circumstances, your _determination_ should keep your soul pure and eliminate the foreign monster half. But the more I observed, the more I began to question how strong your souls were to begin with.”

“So what are you trying to say, Doc? That our souls are messed up?” Sans was getting tired of this monster beating around the bush, no matter how intriguing the conversation was. For once he wasn’t amused with the road to the answer; he was desperate to know what future laid forth for him and his brother.

“I wouldn’t say, ‘messed up’.” The monster shook his head. “No, it is your _determination._ You lack it.”

The monster decided now to turn their head to look at Sans, though he was still greeted to a shroud of shadows. “I can’t explain why, not with so little information. But if my hypothesis is correct, than this is why you and your brother are obtaining so much magic and why your human soul has not attacked the foreign components yet. It lacks the function to do so.

“But, there is still time.” The monster pointed his index finger up. “Sagiv waits for you at the end of this bridge, and beyond him lay Asgore’s castle.”

Sans turned his head to the black doorframe that waited beyond the bridge, his nerves steadily climbing with the realization of having to face Sagiv again. “Your end goal is to go home, is it not? So long as neither of you tap into the magic coursing through your soul, then you should be able to cross the barrier and breach the surface once more.”

The monster seemed so confident in its own words, hands resting atop one another in patient silence. It was like this creature was expecting Sans to smile and thank him for his warning, but all Sans could think of was the silence his mind was producing.

His head had gone light again, the world before his two eyes starting to shift. He grabbed for his head, stumbling to regain lost balance. He hadn’t even noticed the monster stand back up and grab hold of him or his concerned question as to if he was ok. “N-Not again…”

“Again? What again?” The monster asked, to which Sans was able to hear his question clearly this time.

“The blood…” Sans weakly muttered, focusing more on his breathing to relax his stiff body. “I-it’s coming again… the blood…”

“Blood?” There was fear in the monster’s voice; as if they hadn’t known about Sans’ illness.

Sans could feel the dizzy spell that had overcome him slowly fade away, but the grip the monster held him with only tightened. “You need to come to my lab immediately. We must run some tests.”

Upon hearing the word ‘tests’ Sans attempted to shrug the monster off of him, panic and anger rising. “I’m not going anywhere. Let me go!”

“Sans!” Sans’ attention was soon drawn to the back entrance of the hotel, where Papyrus stood with a broadened stance. His eyes were wide upon seeing the tall and foreboding figure, whose clutches held Sans.

“Pa-pap.” Sans muttered before feeling another dizzy spell ram itself into his brain. He hunched over, trying to calm the fires that spread in his mind.

The monster’s grip on Sans tightened when staring at Papyrus, his words wavering like his confidence. “Please, do not be alarmed. I am simply taking care of-”

“You’re not ‘taking care’ of anyone!” Papyrus didn’t let the monster finish his sentence, his shock bursting into anger. He rushed over for Sans, but the monster held out an arm to try and shield Sans from his brother grabbing him.

“Please, I mean him no harm.”

Sans continued to hear his brother scream for him, hands reaching for him but unable to grasp him. The monster kept trying to reason with Papyrus, but it all registered in Sans’ head as noise. Loud, piercing, shrieking, painful noise.

Sans bit down on his tongue from the pain in his ears, hand clutching his chest. Something, something was trying to blossom. Engulf him in a fiery sensation. His bones rang and skin grew tight once more, and his left eye burned like it had done so the first time.

He needed to escape.

“Let… go… of me!!” In a burst of violence Sans shoved back the arm that was keeping him hidden from his brother, but in the next moment neither Papyrus or the monster were beside him. They now stood before him, rather frightened to notice Sans so far away just as his feet teetered back. Sans lost his footing as the world went skyward and all he could see was the black abyss above him.

“SANS!!” Rock walls formed around Sans, and he knew all too late that he had fallen off of the mass of land. His destination now was for the boiling lava below, a fate he would soon greet in seconds.

But his premature death stopped when his body did the same, head jerking back. The gravity around his body seemed to be pushing him from below, as if he were trapped inside a gravity field.

The world around Sans glowed blue while his body slowly lifted itself back towards the rocky cliff he had stumbled off of. The closer he got to the top, the easier it was for him to see that Papyrus had been watching his decent, only to share in his baffled expression.

Floating just a bit above the land mass, the gravity that warmly held Sans soon disappeared, and he landed on his knees to the floor. Papyrus didn’t waste a second in getting to his own knees and pulling Sans into a tight hug. “Oh god Sans!”

Sans gripped tightly to his brother, mind shaken up on what he had just undergone. The tall monster was nowhere to be found, but Sans knew that they had played some role in saving his life.

“What was that just now?” Papyrus let up slightly on his hug, looking to Sans with concern and confusion. “You sort of just…blinked out of that guy’s hold.”

“I-I don’t know.” Sans was somewhat startled to hear his own voice, his tongue numb from accidentally piercing it. His voice, it sounded different than before.

Sans decided to look up at Papyrus, whose expression was grave. He hugged his brother tightly once more. “Please be careful Sans. I-I don’t know if I could go on if you suddenly-”

Papyrus’ breath hitched and he cut himself short, as if his mind had played out the gruesome ending that could have been.

Sans decided to quickly cut the horrible scenario from Papyrus’ mind by giving him a tender smile, though both knew how fake it was. “It’s ok Pap, I’m here. I’m not dying on you anytime soon.”

They continued to hold one another, sitting on the small land while the lava continued to heat the world around them. Papyrus held onto his brother, eyes staring at the ground before he gave a long sigh. “Sans. I’ve… I’ve been thinking about the future recently.”

Sans response was only letting Papyrus go, allowing his brother to scoot back. He stared at his broken state, his worried eyes, the way his mouth didn’t try to hide his frown. His mask had shattered.

Even if his brother was completely vulnerable, Papyrus still couldn’t help but place his fists on his knees, eyes staring off. “I know this might not be a good time Sans but… I-I have made a decision, and you need to know.”

It was time to explore the world he never knew outside of his box.

Papyrus moved his eyes back over to face Sans, as if he were ready to stare down the beast that awaited him. But upon doing so Papyrus could only see his father where Sans sat, standing before him. The look of disappointment in his eyes when he stared at him.

No.

“I…I’m going into the military.”

In that moment of confession, Papyrus had turned his back to the beast. It did not hesitate to charge and pierce its tusks through his heart, a sensation that zipped out of his mind and throughout his entire body.

His body instinctively drew a quick breath in, as if he had been stabbed in real life, before hanging his head in shame. He truly felt the weight of his words.

Sans stayed eerily silent, making it hard for Papyrus to do the same. His fingers twitched, his body shifted, his mouth grew dry, hungry for an answer. “Well?”

Sans turned his head away, his eyes hidden from his view. Papyrus’ skin crawled like inchworms in his veins, his anxiety growing with the hole in his heart. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Papyrus…” Papyrus relaxed a little to hear his name called, eagerly waiting for Sans to turn his head back to him.

Such happiness fled when he saw the hopelessness ingrained in his eyes, like a man ready to throw his life away. And yet… he smiled. “I-I’m done… I won’t go back.”

Papyrus always thought that the ‘glow’ of Sans’ blue eye was nothing but a parlor trick when they were in a dim room. But here, where the light was bright and intense, Papyrus could see the trail of blue smoking from his left eye.

“I’ll help you get to the barrier and I’ll help you get through. But I won’t follow behind. …Our life together ends here.”


	15. Level 14

“Wh-what.” Papyrus drew quietly away from his brother, hands close to his chest. Sans, who for all his life had looked away when speaking to him, now had the courage to meet his frightened eyes with his own.

Never before had he seen such a determined face.

Denial soon caught up in Papyrus’ mind, shaking his head. “You can’t-I mean- what?!”

“I’m not going, Pap.” Sans smile still held form on his face, and while his eyes screamed for help, they held steady like Papyrus had never seen.

Papyrus’ eyebrows bunched together, his resolve quickly dissolving into anger. “You can’t just stay here!! What would mom and dad say?!”

“I don’t know.” Sans merely shrugged. He was surprised more than Papyrus was at how relaxed he was in this situation, but he didn’t let it show. “I won’t be around to ask them.”

“Sans!” Papyrus reared his head at Sans, who didn’t flinch or scoot back. Papyrus figured Sans must have put his mask back on while Papyrus was vulnerable, that had to be the reason why he was smiling when saying such terrible things.

Pushing himself up, Papyrus trudged over and snatched one of Sans’ hands. “No, absolutely not! You’re not staying here!!”

“I didn’t ask, bro.” Papyrus paused for a moment when Sans pulled back on his arm.

“I’m not asking either!” Papyrus moved to grab for Sans’ other hand, but he hid it behind his back.

“That doesn’t make sense, Papyrus.” Sans smile grew as Papyrus kept darting his other hand behind Sans’ back to try and catch his.

“Yeah well you don’t make sense!!” In a fit of anger Papyrus threw Sans’ other hand back at him, taking a few big steps back.

Sans rubbed the hand that Papyrus had gripped, noticing that Papyrus had placed a hand over his mouth. Papyrus only did that for two reasons, and in this case it wasn’t because he was trying to hold back a fit of giggles.

“I don’t….” Papyrus could feel his anger slowly drain away while he shook his head, trying to understand the situation. Then, realization hit. “You knew.”

Such simple words threw Sans off guard; a crack in his mask being shown. His eyebrows bunched together as he stared at Papyrus, wondering what sort of thoughts were going on in his mind.

He knew that Papyrus would have objected to this decision and slowly he had prepared himself for this moment. What he hadn’t anticipated was the deadly silence that formed when Papyrus bore holes into his eyes, how dead they looked.

Sans’ smile completely fell.

Slowly Papyrus shook his head, his voice almost a whisper. “You’ve been planning this for awhile… haven’t you?”

Sans was starting to get scared by how Papyrus was reacting, his hand growing tighter around his mouth while chuckles escaped through the few cracks it could. Without a care Papyrus threw his hands to the side, orange tears streaming down his face. “How stupid can I be?! You’ve probably been planning this before we even got to Mt. Ebott, right?? You lied to me all throughout this journey just to give me false hope that we would exit the Underground together. The puzzle pieces are making sense now.”

Papyrus gestured his arms out to Sans, taking a step forward but Sans leaned back. He expected his brother to have gotten mad, shout at him, call him many bad names and then leave him behind.

But this, this was a side of Papyrus he had never seen before. “That’s why you packed so much stuff, that’s why you kept promising me that we would get out alive.”

Papyrus’ laughter slowly died, and with it his expression. A fit of rage burst from within Papyrus as he slammed his foot down onto the ground. “I’m such an idiot!!”

Unable to face his brother anymore, Papyrus turned his head away. His hands found their way up to his arms to hold for comfort while the orange tears flowed heavier down his cheeks.

His voice was quiet and hesitant.“What would have happened, if I hadn’t had fallen when you took that picture? Was that… was that part of your plan too? To get one last picture of me,”

Through tear-stained eyes Papyrus stared off into the distance, allowing the world around him to melt away back to when him and Sans were in the cave of the mountain. He watched Sans take the innocent photo of him grinning at the mouth of the cave, then take a few steps forward so that he wouldn’t fall on accident.

“let me start heading for the mouth of the cave,”

Papyrus moved to the beginning of the tunnel out of the room, a smile on his face and teasing his brother for being so sentimental. Sans however stayed near the hole. His smile was a mix of sorrow and enlightenment.

“would you have-?”

As Papyrus headed for the entrance to the tunnel, Sans took a deep breath and moved backwards. Papyrus moved his head back just in time-

And that was when Sans had shoved himself into his brother’s arms.

Papyrus was startled out of his memory, feeling how tight Sans hugged him. “Don’t…”

His eyes shifting down, Papyrus saw how Sans’ head was buried in his dirty polo shirt. “Don’t think like that.”

Sans buried his face deeper into Papyrus’ chest, as if the gesture would somehow make him disappear from the scene. “Why…why aren’t you angrier at me? Why aren’t you yelling at me? I’m telling you I want to stay here, and yet you just get angry at yourself! You’re supposed to disown me and leave me for dead!”

His hands started to shake from how tightly he held onto Papyrus’ shirt, his voice cracking as blue tears stained the yellow polo. “I don’t understand why you won’t turn your back on me!”

Sans still didn’t understand when Papyrus wrapped his arms around him, feeling his brother rest his head on his. Even his voice had calmed down to a soothing tone, one that Sans hadn’t heard in a long time. “Sans, I would never disown you. Have you forgotten that you’re my little brother?”

“I haven’t felt like one for awhile…” Sans didn’t have the strength to turn his head up and see Papyrus. He only moved his head to the side for easier breathing, still holding tightly onto his brother.

“Probably because I haven’t been a good older brother.” There was a tone of guilt in Papyrus’ voice, to which Sans shook his head stubbornly.

“No. Don’t doubt yourself like that. I couldn’t ask for a better brother.” Sans felt his words leave his mouth faster than he could process what he was saying. The faint sounds of the outside world around them started to fade away, until the only noise that Sans could hear was his rugged breaths and the quick beats of Papyrus’ heart.

“Sans.” Papyrus motioned to move Sans from his chest, placing his hands on his shoulders. He crouched down so that Sans didn’t have to angle his head up to see his warm, concerned eyes. “Why don’t you want to go home? Is it because of school? Because I’ll be leaving soon? Is it…”

Papyrus’ eyes darted away for a second, his hesitation apparent as he swallowed saliva. “Is it me? Am I… holding you back?”

Sans slowly reached up and clasped one of Papyrus’ hands, gently taking it off of his shoulder. His cheeks were stained with blue, but his eyes were innocent like a child. “No Pap. You were never holding me back.”

Lovingly Sans brought Papyrus’ hand close to his heart, to which Papyrus was genuinely surprised by the gesture. A small smile blossomed on Sans’ face, the purest of all the ones he had seen. “You’ve been a beckon of light to me ever since I was little. If anything, you made my life worth living.”

Slowly that smile faded away, his eyes starting to focus on Papyrus’ hand. “The reason I’m staying is not because of you. I wasn’t going to tell you because I knew you would try to stop me. Kind of like right now”

“But why?” Papyrus leaned a little closer into Sans, feeling his tears start back up when Sans did the same. “You at least owe me an explanation.”

Sans kept his eyes trained on Papyrus’ hand, as if he wasn’t going to answer him. Then he sighed, and nodded his head. “…Yeah. I do owe you that, and much more. It’s time… I let you in.”

Gently tugging on his hand, Sans led Papyrus to the ground, where both sat across from each other. Their knees touched as they sat cross-legged, with Sans keeping Papyrus’ hand in the hole between his legs. He stared intently at the ground, mustering the will to speak, while Papyrus sat there giving him the time he needed.

Sucking in a deep breath of air, Sans opened his mouth. “You know dad. Retired military man, successful lawyer. He was a real hard-ass when it came to school and everything else. But he always said that his harshness was his way of making us stronger.”

Sans chuckled, his nose wrinkling in disgust. “Stronger? Pathetic. He was nothing but a slimy monster-no, I shouldn’t say that. Compared to the monsters down here, they’re more human than he is.”

Sans’ eyebrows furrowed in anger, but they let up when as he took a breath. “Dad always told us that someday, we’d do something great. But now… I know that he only meant me when he said that.”

Papyrus didn’t understand where Sans was going, his throat starting to crack from dehydration as Sans continued his tale. “It was just a few months ago, when Dad took me out on that Sunday drive. We drove for a few hours in silence before we pulled up to a cliff over the countryside. He talked to me about my grades, how well I was doing in school. He said that I would go on to do something great for the world, that he was proud of me.”

There was no hint of a smile or love in Sans’ eyes, instead they only grew more hollow. “Then, he talked about you. ‘He’s a good kid,’ he said, ‘but he’s not good for you’. He told me that you were holding me back, that I could be doing better in school and clubs if you weren’t around. So he said that he would be enlisting you into the army, since it was ‘the best option for your skills’. With you gone, I could focus more on my grades; get into that top college he wanted me to go to, ‘start my life’. ‘It’s a win-win’ he said, that he was ‘doing me a favor’.”

Sans didn’t notice until now that Papyrus’ hand had been shaking. He lifted his head lightly to see fear and betrayal in his eyes, wishing that what Sans was saying wasn’t true.

He recalled on all the times their father praised Sans for his grades while giving Papyrus a pitying smile with a small lecture, how whenever Sans did something right his smile was more _genuine._

The time when he won his first race and his father didn’t even look up from his papers.

“What…” Papyrus swallowed some more saliva, finding it hard to speak with how dry his mouth and throat had become. He was almost too afraid to ask, his voice soft and vulnerable. “What did you say…?”

Papyrus looked to Sans’ for an answer, but he didn’t respond as quickly as he wanted. A small, bitter-sweet smile formed on his face, and soon a chuckle afterwards. Papyrus flinched as if Sans was going to tell him that he laughed alongside his father, that he was the dead-weight he feared to be.

“I slugged him in the jaw.”

Words could not describe the expression that formed on Papyrus’ face, eyebrows lurching up in shock while his mouth fell open. Sans continued to chuckle, burying his head in his T-shirt while Papyrus was astonished his brother would ever do such a thing.

He had hit their father. He should have been upset, angry even. But instead, all he felt was love blossom in his shriveling heart, enough so that tears came again.

“I guess I must have broken the camel’s back, hitting him when I did.” Sans laughter softly died out, his smile transforming into a frown. “Because what would any man do when they are hit? They hit back. You remember my shiner, right?”

Sans lifted his head, pointing to his right eye as if he wanted Papyrus to remember. Papyrus took a moment to try and understand what Sans was eluding to, but the memory came quickly back, along with horrid realization.

Sans knew Papyrus had beaten him to what he was going to say. “Well, I didn’t get it from falling down the park’s stairs. That’s for sure.”

The small, pitiful smile that tried to form was squashed when Sans gave another heavy sigh, his head hung once more. “He swore to me that he would separate us, and I know he will. He’ll find some way. Now, I don’t know about you, if you really want to go into the Military or not. But when that day comes, I know dad will see you off with a smile, mom will see you off with a smile, and you’ll want me to do the same.”

Sadly Sans shook his head, shoulders drooping. “But I can’t. I can’t smile for you Papyrus, knowing the reason why. And maybe… this will be better for both of us.”

Papyrus felt his normal urge to shout try and burst from his vocals, but he held then shut. Instead, he thought of his words carefully, and moving his hand out of San’s grip, he used it to angle Sans’ chin up to look at him. “Sans, if you stay here, you’ll be killed.”

Sans tried to duck back down but couldn’t when he felt Papyrus not willing him to. He closed his eyes and let a nervous chuckle escape his lips, which formed into a sad smile. “I know. But if I play my cards right, I can hide somewhere. I could live off of trash and sleep in a hole; I’ll do everything I can to survive until I can’t run any longer.”

Sans opened his eyes, deciding to look at the giant machine behind Papyrus. “But honestly, I would live that life any day than going back to being someone’s puppet. Here, I’m free. Here, I’m me…”

His smile slowly faded back into a frown. “It was my smarts that caused our lives to be hell. With me gone, dad would probably set you free to, now that his puppet has disappeared. You can live your life however you want to if I wasn’t there to set the bar so high.”

Closing his eyes again, Sans gave his usual shrug. “You can tell them I fell down a hole to my death, or got lost in the woods, whatever you want. It’s not like I’ll be there to ca-”

Sans didn’t expect Papyrus to roughly shove him back into his arms, or how badly Papyrus shook. For a moment Sans panicked and wondered if the magic within him was reacting, but his panic churned into fear when a few orange drops fell onto his cheeks. “G-god Sans. Why do you always talk like no one cares about you?”

Papyrus drew Sans closer to him, having heard enough. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand how much I care about you? If you think I’m just going to walk away and leave you down here, then you don’t know me as much as I don’t know you.”

“Papyrus…” It was the only thing Sans could mutter at the moment, his hands finding their way around Papyrus’ back and gripping it tightly. Tears threatened to destroy what resolve he had built up in his talk, heart melting the more Papyrus spoke.

“I love you, Sans. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known. You mean the world to me, you’re… you’re what made me _me._ Your encouragement, your determination, your love and your laughs. You always put me first in your life ever since my 10th birthday, and I should have done more to show you how much I cared about you. I didn’t say thank you enough, and there were times when I shoved you away…”

Papyrus moved his head down while Sans angled his up, their eyes locking as blue and orange tears mingled together when they fell to the ground. “But I’m not ready to give you up yet, Sans. We either leave here together or… we don’t leave at all.”

“Papyrus.” Sans felt his heart skip a beat, fear rooting itself deep in his heart. “No, I won’t let you stay here with me. I’m ok with dying but you-”

Papyrus shook his head to shut Sans up, returning his fear with that of love and warmth. “Sans, if anything you would die in a couple of days if I left you alone. Together we could take care of one another, hunting for food and sleeping in caves until you’re ready to go back to the surface.”

“But-” Sans felt desperation grow in his words. “What about your car, your party? Your mix-tapes and your room? You can’t throw your life away for me.”

“I’m not throwing it away, Sans.” Papyrus blinked, then smiled for Sans. It was one that wasn’t born from a mask of fear, or made hastily to comfort Sans. It was genuine; it was his heart on his face. “And besides, you threw away yours for me.”

Sans couldn’t save face any longer. His eyes turned soggy like crying eggs, and without words he was left sobbing with incoherent whines. Papyrus took this to pull Sans back to his chest, letting his brother spill out all of the pent-up frustration and sadness he had been pooling for the last 8 years.

“I-I don’t deserve this.” Sans weakly stuttered through his cries, then he repeated it over and over while continuing to empty his heart.

Papyrus smiled warmly and rested his head on Sans, sighing. “You do too, Sans. It’s time for someone to take care of you.”

Sans didn’t know how much time had passed before he was finally able to get control of his emotions. He wiped a sleeve on his nose and eyes before picking himself up, leaving Papyrus to fondly look at him while he composed himself.

After a moment Sans let his arms drop, his eyes and cheeks clean of tears while he smiled down at Papyrus. But this time this smile was different, it was genuine, like his brother’s. “Come on, Pap. Let’s say we head back to Grillbys’ and finish that spaghetti?”

Papyrus felt his spirits lift to the idea of pasta, opening his mouth to speak in agreement while moving to get up.

His eyes were trained on Sans just as a white spear ruptured through his stomach from behind.

Sans’ eyes grew wide while his mouth opened to let sprinkles of blood fly out. Time moved slow while his body grew numb as it landed upon the ground.

“SANS!!” Papyrus rose to his feet just as he felt an unknown presence behind him. He whipped his head back only to have the arm of the intruder smack him over the side of the mass of land, his screams slowly echoing away.

“PA-PAPYRUS!!” Sans tried yelling while coughing up blood, feeling the white arrow disappear from his stomach but he still bled as evident from the giant circle of blood pooling on his shirt. His arms shook as he crawled to the edge of the cliff but was stopped when a metal boot pinned his back to the ground.

“I grew tired of waiting.” Sans grew paralyzed when he heard Sagiv’s voice, unable to turn his head up and see his enemy.

He couldn’t hear Papyrus’ screams anymore, fighting the urge to start crying by biting his tongue. He hoped he wouldn’t hear the lava boiling extra hard to dismantle and melt his only brother.

A tingling sensation clung to Sans’ bones as his anger started to take control of his mind, while Sagiv got another one of his arrows ready. “I’m surprised you survived that attack. I take it your fat probably cushioned most of the blow. No matter.”

He aimed for Sans’ head, not worrying that the human below him started to shake uncontrollably. “This shot will kill.”

Sans grinded his teeth from how angry he was, hand twitching uncontrollably for his knife in his pocket. If he could just reach it, if he could just grip the handle-

A shot of blue ruptured from the cliff side of the land, gaining both Sans and Sagiv’s attention only for the blue blur to smash into Sagiv. The parrot flew back a few feet before landing on his back, skidding dangerously close to the other side of the lava.

Sans used what little time he had to shakily get to his knees, head angled upwards to try and see who this figure was.

“Sans!”

Slowly descending to the ground was Papyrus, a sight that confused and relieved Sans all the same. Papyrus turned back for a moment to look at his brother, relief washing over him. “Oh thank god I made it! Did he hurt you more?”

“Papyrus! … You’re floating.” It was stupid, but it was all Sans could mutter. He wasn’t flying like with Sagiv’s orange arrows, so how-

“What is this??” Sans and Papyrus turned to notice Sagiv stand back up, his bow clenched menacingly in his fist. “You should be dead by now! Boiling in lava! How are you alive?!”

Papyrus sneered when glaring at Sagiv, the blue hue around him disappearing. “I don’t know, but I don’t care! You tried killing me and my brother and I’m sick of you coming after us!”

Sagiv clicked his beak, not intimidated in the slightest. “So, you want to stop running? Are you willing to fight me?”

“Papyrus…” Sans cautioned, not expecting his brother to take a large step forward.

He stood with the motive to protect. “I’m not only going to beat you, but I’ll make sure you can never come after me, or Sans again!!”

Sagiv responded to Papyrus’ threat with a simple laugh, gesturing his arm towards the bridge before them. “Well then, I’d hate for you to trip and fall back down into the lava after such a bold claim. Come! Let’s settle this inside the Core, where an easy defeat won’t be in your grasp.”

Standing up, Sagiv was the first to cross the bridge, with Papyrus and Sans a little more hesitant to follow. Sagiv stopped, clicking his beak. “I won’t push you off, that would be unsporting of me. You have nothing to fear except for when we go inside. Unless… you want to take back your stance as a man.”

Papyrus puffed his chest out at such a claim, walking over to pick up his reluctant brother. Sans could see the sadness in his eyes as he gently cradled him, holding him close to chest. “I’ll get us out of here, Sans. Just don’t die on me, ok?”

Sans didn’t respond back, simply letting the soothing rock of Papyrus’ walk carry him over the bridge and into the Core. The silence outside was drowned out by a low, humming sound of the machine working, where walls were made of metal sheets and wires were stapled to the edges of ceilings and floors. The path they stood on gave away for fog and white lights down below, and Sans wasn’t eager to find out what lay hidden beneath the veil.

However he did recognize this as the room from the TV he didn’t break, with Sagiv leading them down a few halls before entering a large, enclosed room. The door behind them closed abruptly as well as the door in front of them, closing them off and trapping them in.

With Sagiv having brought the two humans were he wanted he clicked his beak once more. Papyrus set Sans down in one of the corners of the room, giving him a light hug before standing back up and facing Sagiv.

Sagiv broadening his stance while Papyrus started to stretch his muscles. “You think you can beat the Head of the Royal Guard? Unarmed?”

“Seriously Papyrus.” Sans brought his hands up in defense, eyes shifting from Sagiv to him several times and not liking the odds.

“It’s ok, Sans.” Papyrus turned back to Sans to give him a reassured smile, but there were still small traces of hesitance in his eyes. “But uh, if anything happens to me… run, ok?”

Sagiv took a step forward, to which Papyrus did the same like the two were entering an arena. Sans struggled to get to his feet and run after his brother just as rows of red arrows spiked up from the ground, encasing the two in a circular arena.

“Papyrus!” Sans cried out, hesitantly touching one of the bars only to recoil in pain when it sliced his finger.

“Sans?” Papyrus gave Sans a wearily glance to make sure he was ok, before being pulled back into the arena when Sagiv chuckled.

He seemed confident while putting his bow away. “Since you have no weapon, I’ll play fair and put mine away. We’ll see who the stronger opponent is through brute force.”

He then reached for his shoulder pads and undid the holds for his chest plate around his body. Without a care he tossed the chest plate to the side, revealing a yellow tank top underneath. “I’ll even lower my defenses so you have a chance at hurting me. Not that you will get the opportunity.”

Sagiv narrowed his eyes. “Just so you know, human, I won’t let you leave alive. So if you want to beat me and live to see your precious sunlight, you’re going to have to kill me.”

Sans gritted his teeth in frustration, angry at himself for being unable to do anything in this situation. He had front row seats to the slaughtering of his brother, a one-time performance that he was the audience for.

“I don’t know about killing you.” Papyrus spoke, his fingers curling into fists. “But when I’m done with you, you’ll know you made the mistake of challenging me.”

Swinging an arm to the side, Papyrus puffed his chest out before bringing a fist to said chest. “For I, the Great Papyrus, shall beat the Head of the Royal Guard and avenge my brother for all the times you caused him pain!!”

Extending his fist, Papyrus glared at Sagiv. “Let’s end this.”

Sagiv let out a delighted chirp. “I thought you wouldn’t shut up.”

As if a bell rung, the human and monster both charged at one another, and Sans couldn’t help but shut his eyes.


	16. Level 15

Papyrus wondered if he was insane.

Here he was, in the middle of some giant machine over a bed of lava, running at an almost fully armored green parrot with a yellow Mohawk. It was honestly something he wasn’t eager to achieve in his life.

But there was no backing out now from the fight he had caused, and while it seemed like a good idea to begin with…ok, this wasn’t a good idea. Still, even if he was badly injured or worse, Papyrus knew if they wanted a chance to live peacefully underground, they had to go through Sagiv first.

Before the fight began, Papyrus wondered if telling Sagiv they wanted to stay would have made a difference. Would he have dropped his bow and welcomed them with open arms? Papyrus liked to believe so, but for the moment a sense of reality was cast over his mind, and grimly he surmised that no, Sagiv wouldn’t care. He might be confused for a second, but in the end he would harvest their souls.

And that’s what he had to stop.

Papyrus gave out a battle cry much like the one he had heard Undyne shout; hoping that it would pump the adrenaline faster through his veins and make him a fighting machine. The moment he got into proximity with Sagiv though the parrot seized his raised arm and delivered a blow to the stomach, much like he did with Sans.

Papyrus felt the air in his lungs escape while the fiery sensation of pain burst through his chest, but he didn’t get a moment to breathe before Sagiv punched him in the stomach again. And again.

“Papyrus!!” Sans had sat himself as close to the fence of arrows without being cut by them as possible, but now he was fighting back the urge to throw himself at it just to try and get inside the ring. Half a minute hadn’t even gone by and already Sagiv had Papyrus in his hold, using him as a personal punching bag by delivering low jabs to his stomach and sides.

Every punch Papyrus took Sans responded with a flinch of his own, every yelp of pain the anger inside of him rose. Sagiv wasn’t taking them seriously at all; to him this was a fight between a bull and a snail.

“Come now human, I thought you were going to stop me.” Sagiv teased, lifting Papyrus up by the arm he held him with before tossing him to the other side of the ring like a ragdoll.

Papyrus crashed into the ground before rolling dangerously close to the gated fence. He let out a few ragged coughs, arms shaking as he tried to rise to his feet.

Luckily for Sans Papyrus had fallen near him, the bars big enough for Sans to reach out a hand and place it on his brother’s shaking form. “Papyrus, listen. Mary and Carrie said that humans are dangerous to monsters because our souls are stronger than theirs. Sagiv wants you to feel weak but you are strong, you can beat him. You just have to be and stay determined.”

“Of-of course I’m stronger than him.” Papyrus stuttered while he balanced himself on his knees. He gazed back at Sans, pain eminent in his features. “I-I’m the Great Papyrus, remember? Nothing beats me.”

His false confidence ebbed away when he took a good look at the both of them. How ragged and tangled their hair was, how dirty and blood-stained their clothes were, how patches of dirt was caked on their skin and how their shoes threatened to rip apart any moment. “God, we look terrible.”

Sans falsely smiled. “Heh, guess you could say we look like ‘cavemen’.”

Instead of getting angry Papyrus chuckled, throwing Sans off for the moment. He saw his older brother smile sweetly to him. “Good one. But maybe put a bit more ‘backbone’ into the next.” Before rising to his feet to face Sagiv once more.

“Are you two done saying your goodbyes?” Sagiv taunted, giving Papyrus the time to slowly walk back to the center of the ring.

He cocked an eyebrow at Sans. “I’m surprised you’re still moving, tubby.”

Sans narrowed his eyes, but lessoned them when going back to watching Papyrus. His brother was trying to get his breathing under control, fingers twitching for some action. Even when going up against Sagiv Sans couldn’t see any anger or murderous intent in his posture.

It was like he couldn’t muster any the harder he tried.

Teeth clenched, Papyrus ran at Sagiv once more, pulling back a fist in an attempt to strike Sagiv in the stomach. The old bird simply scoffed before back-handing Papyrus, sending him to crash onto the ground on the right.

Papyrus fought the will to just lay down and let Sagiv kill him, rising to his elbows and knees. Sagiv had strolled over to where Papyrus was attempting to stand up; giving a rough kick onto his side and sending him back down.

Sans bit into his tongue again as he sat there, watching Sagiv kick Papyrus back down every time he tried to get up. His left eye burned with the desire to enter the ring, but Sans stopped himself from wishing it so. If he had blinked into the ring like he did earlier, it would only distract Papyrus and make things worse.

But this… this was inhumane.

“Peh, pathetic.” Sagiv commented, having kicked his boot into Papyrus’ side for the 8th time only to watch him go down again. Papyrus’ body shook uncontrollably now, coughing up a few morsels of blood from all the internal bleeding.

He figured by now Papyrus would have stayed down; perhaps beg for his life like any beaten animal would. But still Papyrus kept his mouth shut and moved to pick himself up again. It was almost saddening, really.

Sagiv took a step back to allow Papyrus the room to get up, but he figured from how beaten he was he wouldn’t even get to his feet. He crossed his arms, watching Papyrus stumble only to face-plant onto the floor, yet still try again. “You still think you can beat me? Look at you, you can’t even stand.”

Papyrus didn’t respond back, simply trying again to get onto his feet. He had made it half way onto his knees before letting out a whimper, falling back onto his hands to steady his shaking body.

Sagiv shook his head. “You humans have fallen far from when I last battled your kind. I thought you would pose a real challenge.”

He waited until Papyrus was finally able to muster the strength to get to his feet, though he rocked back and forth as if he was in a battle with his own balance. Sagiv figured he should have knocked him back down, but felt a change of heart when he saw how pained Papyrus was.

He clicked his beak. “Tell you what; I’ll give you a free hit if you can walk over here.”

In between Papyrus’ heavy breathing he gave Sagiv a questionable stare, one that he shot back with a cock of an eyebrow. “I mean it. If you can walk over here, you can get a free hit in. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I took your soul from such a pathetic fight. So make your only hit count.”

Sans couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his teeth grinding up against one another. First he throws Papyrus around like complete garbage, then has the audacity to play him a fool and pity him? His right hand clenched his pant pocket as he felt the knife inside, murder lining his every feature.

Papyrus, however, felt hope swell in his chest. There was the real possibility that yes, Sagiv would kill him right after his free hit, but the fact that Sagiv was giving him a chance to prove himself was very nice of him.

His head turned slowly to look at Sans, noticing how angry his brother was. He understood, it must have been hard for him to watch his older brother go down so easily without a fight. But with this free hit, Papyrus could show Sagiv what he was made of. With it, he would protect Sans.

Sagiv was surprised to see Papyrus walk over to where he stood, his limp and shakes starting to disappear. Papyrus felt like he was on fire, but not in the burning, agonizing way. No, it was warm and comforting, like his pain and aches were gone. He felt powerful… and he would use it to keep his loved ones safe.

Papyrus stopped walking when he was two feet in front of Sagiv. An electric, tingling sensation coursed through his bones, but all Papyrus could feel for the moment was himself pulling back his left arm for his punch.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Papyrus threw his fist into Sagiv’s stomach with all the strength and power he had left in him. Sagiv went flying backwards and smashed back-first onto the ground before tumbling over himself. Sans was paralyzed by what he had seen, his hand hovering over his pant pocket.

Papyrus panted heavily before straightening his stance, about to shout in joy from how strong he was. But then something else caught his field of vision.

Turning his head, Papyrus found himself in the middle of two long, giant bones, which were angled and stopped exactly where his fist had gone. He turned to Sans in confusion before looking to his fist, then back at the bones. “Did I…”

Lifting his hand up, his shock increased when the bones slowly slid into the ground as he lowered his hand, as if they had been commanded to come out of the ground earlier. Papyrus opened his mouth to gasp, but instead he lightly chuckled in disbelief. “I-I did-!”

Papyrus forgot the rest of his words when he doubled over, a waterfall of blood falling from his mouth and crashing onto the ground. Sans’ fingers tensed like he was trying to grab some of the ground to steady himself, hearing Papyrus’ weak moans and watching him stumble before finding his footing again.

He puked blood.

Thoughts zapped into Sans’ mind, trying to decipher why this had happened. The blink, then he puked, now Papyrus summoned some bones and he does the same. Did it happen when they tapped into their magic? But if so, then Papyrus should have puked when he floated back up from the lava.

The sound of Sagiv grunting resulted in Sans having to solve this conundrum later, turning to look at the parrot. Sagiv pushed himself back up, alarmed and confused as to what hit him. He watched the last bits of bone sink into the ground, his beady eyes switching over to Papyrus in shock, who was reluctantly wiping the blood off of his chin. “Did you just…cast magic?”

With a hefty shove Sagiv stood once more, eyeing Papyrus. Something had seemed off to him ever since the chase in waterfall, but it was clear now what it was.

Sans’ kept eying Sagiv, who looked as though he were contemplating the situation at hand. His gauntlet rested beneath his beak and he looked strained like he was choosing a path to take.

With a deep growl Sagiv lowered his hand, slowly walking towards Papyrus. “This changes nothing. I’ll still defeat you before you can learn how to use your newfound magic.”

Papyrus responded by raising his hands to his chest while taking steps back from the advancing Sagiv. His eyes glanced nervously to Sans as if he were asking him what to do, before suddenly switching them back to the field when Sagiv moved to sprint.

Frightened by the hulk of a parrot coming towards him, Papyrus turned tail and ran, remembering what happened the last time he let Sagiv grab him.

“Papyrus, use your bones!!” Sans shouted, his body leaning towards Papyrus while he ran past him followed by Sagiv.

“R-right!” Papyrus turned and planted his feet, but barely had time to think before a fist was in his face. Sans winced while watching Papyrus fly backwards and back into the circle ring, while Sagiv charged towards him.

Papyrus quickly rose to his feet, feeling small trickles of blood come from his nose and run down his chin just as Sagiv was upon him once more. In a fit of fear Papyrus threw up his arms to cover his head, unleashing a wave of bones to spike up from the floor. Sagiv barely knew what happened as he was flung upwards and several feet away, landing on his elbows first and head second.

The bones slid back into the ground just as Papyrus opened his eyes and saw what had happened. He looked to his hands once more, fingers slowly curling into fists as a soft, knowing smile grew on his face. Standing confidently, he waited for Sagiv to get back up, his eyes blazing orange.

Running back for Papyrus, the teen merely slid his foot back before angling his hands up. The ground before Sagiv exploded with a long, lone bone, but Sagiv was quick to dodge and continue towards his goal. Papyrus bent his knees and tried once, twice, thrice as bones split up from the ground only for Sagiv to curve around them in time.

“Papyrus!!” Sans yelled, watching as Sagiv was close enough to snatch for Papyrus. The dirty, yellow polo slid out of Sagiv’s open hands just as Papyrus jumped backwards, much higher than any human could jump. Two bones came up from the ground just as Papyrus landed atop of them, wobbling to get control of his balance before crouching down and placing his hands on his knees.

Sagiv growled when Papyrus decided to bellow out his signature laugh. “The Head of the Royal Guard has no chance at beating the Great Papyrus! You might have gotten the upper hand before, but now I shall dictate this fight!”

“Like hell you will!” Sagiv shouted, his body shaking in anger. His eyes darted back for his bow just beside the ring, turning quickly on his heels towards it.

Papyrus clicked his tongue while playfully shaking his head. “The Great Papyrus doesn’t feel like playing with arrows!”

With a mighty shove of his hands Sagiv was thrown up into the air, landing roughly back to where he once stood. Papyrus nimbly jumped off of his platform just as Sagiv was getting on his hands and knees.

With a ditty laugh Papyrus walked over to where Sagiv was, throwing an air-punch while the bones shot up and smashed into Sagiv’s side. The old parrot let out a pained squawk before falling to the ground, with Papyrus waiting close-by for him to try again.

“You think this is just a game, don’t you?” Sagiv growled, his hand reaching underneath his body while angrily staring at Papyrus.

Papyrus lost his smile. “Just giving you a taste of what you dished me.”

Sagiv moved his head like he was about to get up again. “Sorry, but I’m not hungry for the main course.”

With a quick shove Sagiv rose to his knees, just as Papyrus threw his arms up and Sagiv threw his down. An explosion of rainbow colors exploded from the scene, with Sans thrown onto his back from fright. He scrambled to get back to his knees, remembering all too well that cloud of rainbows. “Papyrus!!”

Inside Papyrus was having a hard time breathing, his orange eyes blazing like stars. The ground around him was in a frenzy of bones shooting up and down, moving alongside Papyrus as he broadened his stance.

Keeping one eye open, the thick smoke before Papyrus gave way to a torrent of arrows flying at him from every direction. Papyrus yelped and summoned forth a wall of bones, hearing the arrows pierce the bone and a few crack while several arrows flew past him from beyond the wall.

In the middle of the chaos Papyrus grabbed one of the bones from the wall, letting the wall sink back into the ground when the arrows seemed to have stopped. When the wall was far enough down that Papyrus could see, he was greeted with the image of Sagiv bursting through the smoke with his bow in hand, an arrow lined for a shot.

Papyrus sucked in a breath of air and leapt backwards, the arrow slicing the ground beneath his feet. Sagiv landed near Papyrus, throwing the arm with the bow at him while Papyrus moved his head away. Sagiv took another step forward, throwing another punch while Papyrus took the bone he had saved and swiftly moved it to block the blow.

The cloud of magic was dispelling when Papyrus and Sagiv leapt out, with Sagiv leading the chase. Papyrus summoned forth his bones to land on, bounding from one structure to another while Sagiv took a stance and fired several shots. Arrows shot up into the room and pierced metal frames and wires, eventually hitting one of the corner wires. A surge of electricity ripped through the room before the lights went from being solid to breaking and blinking like lightning.

Sans had a hard time following Papyrus in this new lighting, the fight playing out before him like shuffling through pictures. Sometimes though Sans could have sworn he saw a skeleton leaping from the bones before switching back to Papyrus.

“You’re only making a fool of yourself!!” Sagiv lined three shots before firing where Papyrus once was, unable to keep up with where the teen was going to jump next in the flickering light. The constant black and white was hurting his head, dropping his bow for a second to shut his eyes and hold his head. “You think you will win? You are nothing without your magic!!”

“You’re wrong!” Sagiv opened his eyes, turning his head where he heard Papyrus’ voice only to have a column of bones smash into his chest.

Sagiv was sent backwards but placed a foot back to keep him from falling, watching Papyrus leap from his tower of bones and straight at him with his bone raised above his head. “We’re stronger than you!!”

Sagiv brought up his bow to defend himself as Papyrus came down with his bone, landing on his feet and pushing forward. Sagiv pushed back, surprised that Papyrus was keeping his ground and wasn’t moving.

Their faces were mere inches away from each other, both eyes ignited with the spirit of the fight.

Placing a foot back Papyrus let up on his push, allowing Sagiv to fall towards him only to crack the bone into Sagiv’s stomach. The old parrot was sent skidding back, while Papyrus glanced at his broken bone, summoning another one from the ground just as Sagiv ran back at him.

Like a coordinated dance, Sans watched Papyrus parry and block each one of Sagiv’s swipes and strikes, who used his bow like a sword. For every blow Papyrus blocked Sagiv did the same, with both moving each other back and forth in the center of the ring.

Papyrus was sweating profusely from how strenuous the fight had become, but noticed an opening in Sagiv’s stance. Dropping his bone, Papyrus ducked Sagiv’s latest swing only to drop his body to the ground. Sans’ eyes widened as the world felt it was going slow, with Papyrus jumping up and landing on his hands. Sagiv only realized what Papyrus was doing just as the teen used his upper body strength to swing his feet into his stance, throwing him to the ground.

Papyrus hopped back onto his feet just as Sagiv’s back smashed to the floor, but Papyrus didn’t let him rest. Throwing his arms up, Sagiv was hit into the air only for a row of bones from the ceiling to hit him back down.

Papyrus kept moving his arms wildly as Sagiv was thrown up into the air, then back down, to the side, the other side, up, down, left, right, left, down, up, right. It was almost maddening, this type of power that Papyrus now held. The magic, the power, and thrill of the fight, it desensitized him from what was actually happening and made this battle to the death a mere child’s game. Laughter bubbled up as Papyrus couldn’t help a made grin overtake his lips, letting his laugh bellow into an insane cackle.

Delight shone bright on his face when Sagiv’s bow clattered to the ground near his feet, innocently picking it up while Sagiv was still tossed around. With a simple hum Papyrus broke the bow over his knee, throwing it to the ground. “Oopsie.”

Sans’ eyes begged for Papyrus to finish the fight, his grin maddening while watching Sagiv being thrown around like a ragdoll. “Finish him!!”

Papyrus gave Sans a delighted smile. “With pleasure!” Before throwing his hands down to hit Sagiv in the direction of the floor.

Though when Sagiv was coming back down, with Papyrus gleefully waiting for him to get close to the ground so that his bones could pierce his suit, it was then when Papyrus saw it. The pain evident on his face, the fear overtaking his irises.

Papyrus’ fun blossomed into horror.

Hands retracting, Papyrus stepped back while Sagiv hit the ground. The old parrot let out a few raspy coughs, body shaking to try and sit up. His proud suit of armor had been dented and reduced to a sad state, one of his gauntlets thrown off and laid off to the side. His exposed chest was most likely bruised and bloodied from the dark spots that formed on his tank top, and one of his eyes refused to open.

Disgustingly Sagiv turned his head to look at Papyrus, who was terrified of the scene before him. “What game are you playing… human? Going to let me… suffer more before killing me?”

“I-I wouldn’t-kill-” Papyrus’ voice was soft and weak, watching Sagiv shakily gain ground.

He lumbered over to where Papyrus stood, and for a moment the two males just stood there. Then, Sagiv punched Papyrus in his cheek, knocking him down. Papyrus could hear the desperation in Sans’ voice to get back up and fight, but all he could do was stare at the broken bow that laid near him, eyes shifting upwards to Sagiv.

The parrot had raised his foot, ready to crack Papyrus’ skull open. There was murder in his eye and something else, something faint. Remorse. “This is for Petro.”

Gritting his teeth, Papyrus threw up his arms just as Sagiv let out a squawk and slammed his foot down. Papyrus’ didn’t flinch as his bones conformed around him and held Sagiv’s foot up and away from his head. With a light shove Sagiv was sent hopping backwards on one foot before ultimately falling, with Papyrus lifting his head.

Sagiv tried to get back up as well, but Papyrus manipulating his bones to curve around Sagiv’s arms and legs, holding him back from getting up. The parrot’s mild irritation grew into loud squawking and yelling, using all of his strength to fight his restraints, yet ultimately failing.

His eye was trained on Papyrus as the young man wobbled onto his knees, taking steps over to Sagiv. He furrowed his eyebrows, continuing to shout. “Well? What are you waiting for?! Are you going to continue to make me suffer?! Be a human and kill me!!!”

Sagiv continued to struggle the closer Papyrus got, his shouts more inhumane and monstrous. But his voice soon left him when Papyrus dropped shakily to his knees, bent over, and hugged Sagiv.

Sans nor Sagiv knew why Papyrus was hugging the old parrot, his body soon shaking with sobs. Sagiv stared down at Papyrus, who buried his face in his chest, his grip frighteningly tight. “Please, no more. I don’t want to do this anymore…”

Mustering the will to lift his head, Papyrus allowed Sagiv see the flow of orange down his cheeks. His eyes pleaded, oh how innocent they shone. “W-We never hurt a soul; we just wanted to get through the Underground quietly. I-I know you have a job to do, but if we keep fighting like this, one of us will die! And-and I can’t-”

Papyrus gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes shut. “I can’t do it! I won’t kill you! No matter how much pain you brought us, even if you’re going to ki-kill us…I can’t… I just-I just can’t…”

Softly shaking his head, Papyrus drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know why you hate humans so much. I don’t think I’ll ever understand… But please, Mr. Sagiv… please, let us go.”

Sans didn’t understand what was going on, his mind empty as he listened to his brother beg to their enemy. “I promise you’ll never see us again, and if you do we’ll stay out of your way. We just…”

Papyrus sucked in his lower lip, eyelashes fluttering from how wet his eyes were. “We just want to be free… We want another chance at life…”

Sans’ fear jumped when Papyrus allowed the restraints around Sagiv’s arms and legs to slide back into the ground, allowing the old parrot to sit up. Papyrus didn’t move back or flinch when he did so, he only retracted his hug.

Sagiv gazed down at Papyrus, who hung his head in shame. “I-I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for everything… Just let us go….”

Papyrus didn’t look up to see if Sagiv was contemplating what he had said. He only watched the small puddle of orange tears continue to grow beneath him. Then, the sound of metal clinking alerted Papyrus to the fact that Sagiv was getting up, but to do what he did not know. And he wouldn’t look.

Sans felt his voice trying to jump out of his mouth, fully expecting Sagiv to grab him and throw him, or punch him or kill him without a second thought. This was the Sagiv he knew.

But apparently he didn’t know him as good as he thought.

With a simple turn, Sagiv limped over to where his bow had been broken; cradling the long, black wood in his hands before standing back up. He then moved over for his chest plate, reattaching it to his suit to complete his ensemble once more. The only solid metal in a mass of dents.

He limped back over to where Papyrus kept his head, and Papyrus started to shake the closer he heard Sagiv’s footsteps. The hairs on his head tingled when he felt the cool metal just centimeters above his head, swallowing a lot of saliva while biting his lower lip.

“Idiot.”

But there was no connection. Sagiv merely limped over to where Sans sat, allowing the ring of arrows to disappear into little flutters of light. He disregarded Sans as he passed by him, the door behind him opening up before closing behind the old parrot with a light swish.

Papyrus angled his head up when he heard Sagiv leave the room, baffled and perplexed on what had just occurred. Sans rose to his feet, fast-walking over to where his brother sat. “Pap!!”

“I’m ok, Sans.” It was obvious Papyrus was not ok, coughing lightly to get some saliva out of his throat.

When Sans had come close enough Papyrus reached out and received his brother and embraced him in a hug. “Sans, I-I did it…”

Sans loosened his hug to see tears of joy trickle down Papyrus’ cheeks, his smile golden. “I did it! We don’t have to worry anymore!”

Sans returned the golden smile with his own grin, feeling the same, happy tears fall from his eyes. “You did it, bro. I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

Papyrus let himself sob for a second before changing into his signature laugh. “You can’t, can you? For I, the Great Papyrus, shall ne-”

A few coughs stopped Papyrus from finishing his speech, but they slowly turned harsher and more powerful. Sans watched Papyrus turn his head away as he fought the onslaught of coughs, trying to finish what he was saying, “Th-The Great Pa-Papyrus shall ne-never let any-o-ne-”

Without warning Sans was let go, dropping him to the ground as Papyrus clutched his chest, his coughs shaking his body. Alarmed Sans sat up on his knees, hands hesitantly floating around Papyrus’ body. “Papyrus?”

Every time Papyrus tried to breathe his coughs got worse, to the point where breathing seemed impossible. His body gave out, collapsing upon itself as his face slammed onto the cool, metal floor, his fit of coughs unending.

Sans’ eyes grew large before grabbing Papyrus’ shoulder, lightly shaking him and patting his back in an attempt to help him breathe. “Papyrus, it’ll be ok. Yo-you’re going to be ok…”

“S-Sa-sans…” Papyrus weakly murmured through his ragged breathing, his eyes trying to open once more from all the coughing. They shut closed when Papyrus turned his head and puked again, his blood pooling onto the ground.

Sans flinched back upon seeing the crimson color as Papyrus took another breath before he excreted more. All the blood gave Sans the urge to puke himself, feeling his head become light again from what was happening before him.

Stubborn and angry Sans pushed back his illness as he paid attention to Papyrus, grabbing his body and moving him away from the puddle of blood that started to spread on the ground. His grin was plastered on his face, eyes pleading. “It’ll be ok Pap just trust me you’ll live through this it’s just a phase you-!”

Sans incoherent mumbles were silenced when Papyrus laid a clammy hand upon his, turning his head up to look at his brother. His frown was pained and worried with one eye barely open while he continued to cough. “Sa-sans… the ro-room… it-it’s so c-cold…”

“You’re cold?” It was the only thing Sans could hear himself say while his body moved on its own. He had readily taken off his blue jacket, throwing it over Papyrus while starting to stuff part of it beneath him to wrap him around it. “Heh, don’t worry, bro. I got you covered, things will be ok. I-I will take care of you, you will-”

But as Sans talked Papyrus lurched forward, his blood spilling out and drenching Sans’ hands. Upon feeling the warm, sticky substance Sans yelped and threw himself backwards, stumbling onto his feet for a second before falling on his back.

His first sight was Papyrus before him, shivering and shaking, before he slowly brought his hands to his eyes. There was blood in every crevice of his skin, shaking uncontrollably as did his irises. Only one thing registered in his mind at that point.

Papyrus was _dying._

“No. Nonnonononononono.” Sans grabbed for his T-shirt to try and calm his rapid heart, but tore himself away when he saw Papyrus’ blood smear on his black shirt.

Climbing back onto his knees Sans hurried back over to Papyrus, whose coughs had died down but so had his spirit. His brother shook like he was buried in snow, his skin covered in sweat. Sans used the back of his hand to feel his forehead, which had grown incredibly hot and fatal for any human being. Papyrus didn’t seem to register Sans’ touching him, as there was no response or indication that he knew what was going on.

Sans shook his head lightly, before grabbing his knees roughly and lowering his head. “This can’t be happening…This shouldn’t-this should have never-you-you-can’t-”

He threw his head up to look at Papyrus, his once happy tears having been replaced with ones of horror and depression. “PAPYRUS!!”

Throwing himself upon his brother, Sans buried his face in his blue jacket as he sobbed, holding onto his brother as tightly as he could. What should he do? What _could_ he do? His brother was on the verge of death, yet there wasn’t a single thing Sans could think of to save him.

The surface.

Head rising, Sans’ allowed the thought to take hold of his mind. Yes, the surface. If he could get across the barrier, then he could take Papyrus to a hospital. They could save him. Papyrus would live.

With his new plan Sans lifted himself off of Papyrus. His bloodied hands moved around his brother, helping his arms through the sleeves of the blue jacket and zipping it up for him before then sitting him up. Crouching down, Sans used all of his strength to lift Papyrus onto his back, using the extra-long sleeves to pull him up and over his shoulders.

Sans wheezed and his legs shook under the weight of his brother, threatening to give away and smash both onto the ground. But Sans fought his weakness with the intensity of his anger, willing himself to stand and successfully pull his brother onto his back.

He could feel Papyrus’ shallow breaths on his neck from his head resting on his left shoulder while he tied the blue jacket’s sleeves around his neck to keep him from falling. He then crouched down and acquired Papyrus’ legs, lifting them up and into his hands to carry so that his brother didn’t literally drag behind him.

With heavy breaths Sans forced himself to move, wobbling over to the door that would bring him further into the Core. He remembered the mysterious creature telling him that Asgore’s castle laid just beyond the Core, and if he could make it then he still had a chance at saving Papyrus’ life.

But oh, how weak Sans was. After taking a few more steps he already felt his body ready to fall out of exhaustion, his weight and little muscle working against him.

Sans gritted his teeth and willed himself to continue, but alas, his legs would not obey. He knew if he tried to shift all this weight onto one foot just to step he would smash onto the ground and never get up.

But this couldn’t be the end. This couldn’t!

_I know this feeling._

Sans stepped back from his raw anger to this new voice. He turned his head every which way, trying to find the source of this childish voice. “Who’s there?”

_Yes, I know this feeling all too well…_

When the voice did not address itself Sans felt himself get angry again, furrowing his eyebrows. “Show yourself!”

_Sadly, I cannot. But you do not need to see me in order for me to help you._

Sans was able to locate where the voice was coming from, a twinge of fear overtaking his heart when he realized that the voice came from _within_ his mind. “Help me?”

_You sound skeptical, but that is to be expected. You want to save your brother, yes?_

The splash of fear transformed into a beast which snatched at Sans’ heart, making him nod his head. “More than life itself.”

_Then let me help you. I can give you the strength you need to continue onward. I can be your guiding hand._

Sans didn’t register one of his hands dropping Papyrus’ leg, how it slowly moved for the knife in his pocket.

_Together, we can make sure nothing stops us. We can dispose of anyone who tries to interfere._

“Yes…” Sans mind went numb, his mouth speaking from the heart. He could not see the knife he held in his hand, how he was suddenly walking towards the exit to the room.

The lights still flickered on and off as Sans idly turned his head to the light wires alongside the doorframe. His right arm moved, and with it the knife pierced through the metal and severed the cord.

The room was thrown into darkness, but still the door worked as it opened itself to let Sans through. When he stepped from the darkness however his features weren’t the same, sprouting his signature grin and walking like a crazed man. His left eye was engulfed in a sea of black, with his blue iris billowing blue light upwards into the sky, while his right eye had a red glow to it, though it still retained his brown hue.

Sans was the only one to hear the childish giggle.

_I already know you’ll make a wonderful partner…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Greetings...**


	17. Level 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're reaching the end of Fading Light, folks! One more chapter after this! I hope you guys have been enjoying this story about as much as I have been writing it!

Sans felt untouchable.

He didn’t know how he had come onto such power or strength but what seemed impossible before was now trivial to him. He lumbered through the walkways of the Core, keeping a slow, steady pace so as to not cause any discomfort or illness to Papyrus.

Still his brother didn’t move or speak, simply breathing lightly but letting Sans know that he was still alive. They would reach the barrier soon enough, and again he would see Papyrus smile.

It was almost laughable whenever a monster scurried by his path or wished to fight him. A simple swing of his knife and all monsters fell, trying to crawl away or left to tend to their wounds.

_Finish them._ The childish voice would always command. _Let them know our strength._

“No.” Sans would always reply back while he shook his head. “They know not to mess with us now. If they try again, then I’ll finish them.”

He didn’t understand why he hadn’t thought of this before. Trying to be friends with all these monsters? Who knew how slow and agonizing that was when they all just wanted to take your soul? That was all they saw of him and Papyrus, nothing but presents waiting to be torn open for the sweet gift inside.

He almost felt foolish now for doubting himself all those times he reflected upon his knife. It fit perfectly in his right hand, like it was destined to be there all this time.

The Core was relatively simple when one didn’t care to waste their time. Upon entering he had found a sign in which he could be directed three different ways, but opted to choose the easiest path despite the voice in his head wishing to go the other routes.

Time was not something to waste here. Papyrus came first, that’s all Sans thought of.

With monsters left wounded on the path behind him, Sans moved to the only elevator in the Core that took him to a higher level. Upon exiting the elevator he was confused to be greeted to a small, tan house with a doorframe and two, open windows.

Sans paused for a moment, had he gone back to the Ruins by mistake? It wasn’t purple like the Ruins but the structure before him looked exactly like the home Papyrus and him had first ventured in.

_This isn’t the same._ The childish voice soon spoke up to ease Sans’ mind. _Let’s continue._

Sans nodded his head in agreement before setting off for the inside. Upon entering the house Sans felt his confusion return when he scanned his surroundings.

The staircase leading down to another level before him, the two halls on either side, that table in the corner with the pot; it was all the same. The only thing different was the plant-life, which consisted of bright, healthy, golden flowers.

Sans shuddered for a moment to see so many, slowly entering the abode while slipping his knife back into his pocket unsheathed. It looked deserted for the moment, but he wouldn’t hesitate to whip the knife back out if needed.

Seeing no reason to stay in the house, Sans started to move for the stairs when the voice perked up.

_Wait. I want to fetch something._

“We don’t have time.” Sans simply muttered in response, resuming his walk towards the stairs.

_It will only be a moment. It’s a gift for you._

“I don’t need any gifts.” Sans didn’t bother stopping this time to respond, resting his hand on the guard-rail near the staircase to descend.

_You’ll wish you reconsidered._ The voice’s tone was annoyed, which made Sans pause to let the entity continue. _Asgore is a threat not to be taken lightly. What I can give you will protect us from him; make sure that we will succeed._

“Kid, if you haven’t noticed by now, we’re doing pretty fine on our own.” Sans shrugged his shoulders albeit the little he could with Papyrus on his back. “I don’t need it.”

_… Suit yourself._

The child sounded annoyed and upset, but Sans wasn’t going to try and comfort them. His first priority literally rested on his shoulders, he wasn’t going to take what little time he had to try and make some voice happy.

No one really mattered except him.

Upon depositing himself down the stairs, Sans continued his heavy walk down the long and grey tunnels beneath the home. There were no monsters in his path to try and stop him, which made Sans relax a little. As fun as it was to cut down enemies, he enjoyed the silence and kept his focus on Papyrus.

“Heh, you probably would have checked the kitchen for a pie, wouldn’t you?” Sans spoke allowed, allowing himself a glance at Papyrus’ pained and unconscious face.

Such hurt reflected back into Sans’ eyes, allowing a small cough to escape his lips. He quickly cleared his throat and pushed the pain back down, giving Papyrus a small smile. “When we get to the surface, I’ll buy you as many pies as you want. That sounds nice, right? Or would you want spaghetti instead?”

Sans chuckled, his heart hurting like it was twisting in on itself. “Who am I kidding? Of course you’d want spaghetti.”

An uneven chill crawled up Sans’ spine, making him turn behind him to check the hall. Something small had darted into the ground and disappeared, but what Sans didn’t have the time to see.

He heard the voice in his head sigh, as if this wasn’t new for the child. _Forget him. He’s no threat to us._

“You know what that was?” Sans decided to speak aloud, positioning himself back on the right path and taking steps.

_…Let’s just say he’s an old friend. A desperate, clingy friend._

When the path before Sans took a turn he didn’t hesitate to continue following the trail. What did surprise him however was how the enclosed walls around him suddenly opened up, and before him he was greeted to a vast kingdom.

For a moment Sans forgot the reason he was there, standing in awe of what was presented before him. A shadow of gray submerged the kingdom in grays and whites, with buildings rising tall and close to where he walked. If he squinted hard enough he could see small moving objects on the ground several hundred feet below him, monsters. The kingdom was alive.

Papyrus’ short breaths snapped Sans back into the moment, trying to peel his eyes away from the scene before him. It was a side of the Underground he had never seen before, how he felt the adventurous urge burst within him again to jump down and explore.

But there were more pressing matters before him. He only wished that Papyrus could marvel in such a sight with him.

Keeping himself on the path, Sans walked his way through the bustling kingdom underneath him, deciding to sneak glances every so often while keeping his head on the task at hand. “I bet they have some noodle shops down there, Pap. I know you want to try them but we have to get you home.”

The realization of the end goal Sans was going towards made him pause for a moment, his feet coming to a still. His comforting smile fell for a moment to let him frown, taking a long breath. “…We’re going home.”

Breathing in through his nose, Sans held his head up once more and walked back into the enclosed walls at the end of the kingdom, being surrounded in tan once more. He was starting to wonder just how long this corridor was when a dark doorframe was starting to emerge on his right.

He quickly scampered in only to find himself in another hallway, but this one was vastly different than the one he had just entered. The floor was covered in a combination of red and orange tiles, the ceiling held up by pillars of stone that stretched on either side of Sans. Mosaic windows that held the strange symbol of the Ruins door littered the wall to his left, letting in a warm, dark yellow light that he had never seen before. From beyond the blinding light there were the chirps of birds and the rustle of grass and Sans wondered what magical world was beyond them.

But more importantly, there was someone else in the hallway.

Eyes narrowing, Sans let the knife return to his hand once more, starting to take steps towards the monster before him. Like the large, black monster he talked to outside the Core, from what little he could see from the dark shadows the pillars cast, this monster too hid itself from him.

What Sans could make out though was that the monster was small, around his height actually, and wore something blue.

Upon taking his fifth step over the room echoed with the sound of a bell, causing Sans to jerk back in alarm and drop his knife for a second. It clattered to the ground with a sharp echo, coming to a still just as the bell did.

“you dropped something.” The figure spoke, their voice very deep yet odd in a way that was hard to describe. It was almost comical.

Sans crouched down to pick up the knife while allowing his mind to register that the monster before him was male. “course it’d be easy to drop a lot of things from how sweaty you look.”

“Get out of my way.” Sans threatened, holding the knife in his right hand again as the blade part pointed in the direction of where the monster stood.

Sans figured the monster shrugged when his body moved. “no can do, human. you see, I’ve been waiting awhile for you. glad you didn’t take your time. you want to make this easy for both of us? listen.”

Sans heard the monster shuffle from his position, as if he was contemplating stepping out of the shadows. He stayed in the dark though. “So you finally made it. The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the King. Together, you will determine the future of this world. That’s then. Now. You will be judged.”

Anger started to take hold of Sans as he gritted his teeth. “I don’t have time for this. Move or I’ll cut you down.”

“hey, what did I say?” The monster’s tone shifted from serious to playful for a moment, before going right back. “put those lips to good use and zip it.”

Sans bent his knees, the urgency to keep moving influencing his thoughts. “I could say the same.”

Knife itching to cut through something, Sans started to move quickly towards the monster in hiding. After a few steps though Sans felt his whole body freeze beyond his control, noticing a familiar, blue hue encompassing him.

The monster in the shadows had revealed a lone, bony finger when he had outstretched his arm, along with a blue circle when casting his magic. The monster shook his head. “man, you are one feisty human. believe it or not, I understand why you’re acting like an idiot.”

A different hue of blue overtook Papyrus’ form, Sans’ fear escalating when he felt Papyrus being lifted off of him. “Papyrus!!”

“relax.” The monster replied, using another hand to gently guide Papyrus over to the ground and rest him easily on the tile. “the last thing he needs is to be shaken like a can of soda. you though.”

Sans gripped his knife tighter when he was suddenly zipped through the air and near where the monster hid himself, being turned upside down. “you could use a good shake.”

In anger and frustration Sans sliced his knife through the air, trying to stab the monster in hopes of slaying him. “You don’t know what you’re messing with!”

The monster seemed to anticipate every slash Sans made, with the monster simply dodging or stepping to the side as the only thing Sans was cutting was the air. “now, I bet no one told you about EXP. and really, I shouldn’t be having this talk with you from the way you were going. but EXP stands for execution points.”

“This isn’t some video game.” Sans said through his teeth, allowing his arms to dangle above his head after tiring himself from all the constant stabbing.

“you would think, right?” The monster shrugged his shoulders. “but I’m getting off track. see, EXP can only be obtained when you kill someone. get yourself enough EXP, and you increase your LOVE. what’s LOVE? why, it stands for level of violence.”

Sans glanced over to Papyrus, making sure he was ok and nothing was going to happen before glancing back at his captor. He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”

“cause you’re dangerously close to earning yourself some EXP, kid.” The monster’s tone grew very serious, deciding to bring Sans close to his face.

Still all Sans could see was darkness, but his flesh felt like it was trying to flee off of his bones. “i know you more than you’ll ever find out. i know what you’ve been through, why you’re here, and how this will all end. you’re predictable, see.”

The bony finger soon pointed upwards at Sans’ face, so close that it threatened to touch his nose. Sans felt electricity dancing through his skull and body, as if something was trying to hide, but he also felt something else. Like if that finger even graced his nose, something seriously bad would happen. “but that monster inside you? he’s part of the reason I’m here.”

Sans angrily glared at the monster, entertaining the thought for a moment of just ramming his knife into the monsters’ head. But he decided against it for the moment since there was a high chance of touching the monster himself, and he didn’t want to find out why everything in his body said to keep away.

“i’m only going to say this once, so listen with those ears of yours. i get it. you’re angry; you want to save your brother. but you need to keep a calm head. no more running around trying to stab everything. that’s not you, that’s not what you stand for.”

“How would you know?” Sans spat at the monster. “You say you know me but you don’t. Making sure I fall for your kind act before you stab me in the back.”

“kid, I’d have a real problem on my hands if you got killed.” The monster chuckled, as if he was laughing at something Sans would never understand. “all I’m saying is don’t listen to that monster inside of you. he sounds like a friend but believe me. he doesn’t have your best interests at heart.”

Sans narrowed his eyes. “Why should I trust you?”

“now that’s a good question. i could ask the same thing about your friend there.” The monster’s tone had become playful, before slowly changing to serious again. “i have no way of proving why you need to trust me.”

Another bony finger slid out from the shadows, pointing over to where Papyrus laid. His voice was strained with guilt. “but him... i’ve seen a world where he doesn’t make it. by your hands.”

Like a volcano Sans erupted with anger, throwing his knife hand towards the monster’s face. The blue around his knife grew heavy and stopped, but it shuddered and shook in the air as Sans tried to desperately fight the magic and fulfill the knife’s purpose. “I would never harm Papyrus!!”

“i know you wouldn’t.” The finger slid through the air until it almost touched the tip of the knife. He didn’t say anything else because he didn’t need to.

He could almost see a bitter-sweet smile on the monster’s skull. “just keep my words in mind, kid.”

With a simple wave of his finger Sans was flung backwards and onto the ground. He slowly pulled himself up just as the monster’s finger and blue eye disappeared into the darkness of the shadow. “now if you’ll excuse me, I have someone to fi-!”

The monster jumped deeper into the shadows when Sans watched his form flicker, as if he had glitch-ed. The monster was surprised as much as he was, the blue eye igniting again. “what? but he said I had more-!”

Another fizzle tore through the monster, then another, until the form was nothing but fuzzy pixels and distorted voices. The monster gave out a shriek of pain and fear before disappearing all together, leaving Sans to sit on his knees in the grand hallway.

Sans blinked a few times, trying to register what had happened before him. His eyes slowly drifted over to where Papyrus laid, feeling a twinge of fear in his heart at the thought of ever harming his brother.

He was confused.

_We need to go._

Sans was a little shocked to hear the kid’s voice come back, wondering why they were so quiet earlier. _Don’t worry about that. We need to continue on._

Sans didn’t move, suddenly distrusting of the voice inside his head. The entity within him seemed to stir with his emotions. _You want to sit here? We can sit here. But I don’t think that will do your brother good._

Sans hitched a breath at the mention of his brother, eyes locking onto his form over by one of the pillars. Despite what the monster had said, he wouldn’t be here without the entity’s help. He needed them until they got to the surface; Papyrus’ life depended on it.

“Ri-right.” Sans nodded his head though in an uneasy manner, stepping back over to where Papyrus laid. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Papyrus wasn’t injured or getting worse, fixating him back on his back before continuing on.

A garden of golden flowers bloomed from the grass beneath Sans’ feet as he stepped out of the hallway and into this new room. Sans furrowed his eyebrows at the annoyance of all the flowers before fixating his eyes onto a single chair in the room. It was decorated in gold and sat in a patch of grass around the flowers, with windows on either side of him and the chair.

He had entered the throne room.

Pocketing his knife, Sans slowly crept into the room, a little surprised that the King was nowhere to be found. He expected the King of all Monsters to be lying comfortably in his throne with a look of contempt as he stared Sans down, but there was no monster there to be prideful. Another throne seemed to lie in wait at the end of the room on a small row of tile, but it was covered with a white sheet like it was to be forgotten.

Sans’ skull prickled with a warm sensation, and for a moment his hand quickly reached behind him to test if he was bleeding. But after a moment he realized that the warm sensation must have been coming from the entity inside of him, as if they were happy to be in this room.

“You part cat or something? Cause it sounds like you’re purring.” Sans chided, walking himself through the golden flowers with no care to watch his step. Many flowers were crushed beneath his shoes or trampled without a second thought, his eyes fixated on the doorframe out of the room.

The child did not respond to his comment, but Sans didn’t care if he got one or not. Just so long as he could break the silence.

With another hall under Sans’ belt after leaving the throne room, he was greeted to two, massive pillars with large doors in front of him. Sans felt himself being taken back to the beginning of his journey with Papyrus, where his brother was starting to lose hope that they would get out alive.

In response to this thought Sans let his fingers tense into fists for a moment before taking a deep breath. Could this be the end?

Pressing his fingers on the doors, Sans used all his strength to push the doors open, which swung backwards with no resistance. Sans fumbled for ground as he raised his head up to see the room before him, eyes widening.

What greeted Sans was a large, empty room. There were no walls, no ceiling that he could see; only a long tunnel that shifted from gray to white towards a black exit. The room hummed and buzzed as if it were alive, like it was waiting for someone to enter.

Sans took hesitant steps inside the room, holding his right hand out to test how far he could go. Would the room go on forever? As if to answer his question he soon felt an invisible wall press up against his open palm several yards into the room.

He had found the barrier.

“Whoa…” It was the first thing to escape Sans’ mouth, his excitement escalating upon his discovery. This was it. This was the barrier that kept all the monsters trapped beneath Mt. Ebott. The only thing stopping the reunite of monster-kind and human-kind, or the reigniting of a centuries old war.

This was magic manifest; what humans were capable of.

Sans was so giddy that he didn’t try to hide his cheerful laughter, his hand recoiling back to his chest. It hurt to laugh, but this was worth it. “Pap, I found it. I found it!”

His eyes smiled to the barrier, his grin the most excited it had ever been. “We can go home now, Pap. We can make you better.”

A soft, comforting feeling blossomed inside Sans’ chest to think of Papyrus getting well. He could see it now, his brother opening his eyes again while he laid in a hospital bed; how he would read to his brother all the puns he could from that joke-book he found until Papyrus would throw his pillows at him; how he would stay there and nap on a chair while Papyrus rested. Things would be better now.

Sans pulled from his memory what Carrie had said long ago, how a human soul could pass through the barrier. Well, he had two human souls, including his, so he didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be able to pass through easily.

A melancholy feeling made itself known through Sans’ as he took a moment to reflect upon his journey. Him and Papyrus had come a long way from when they had initially started. They learned, they fought, they laughed and they cried together.

Even with all the bad, Sans couldn’t help but feel sad that he was leaving. This was going to be his new home if Papyrus wasn’t so ill; how much he could have learned and shared with the monsters.

Would anyone believe him or Papyrus if they told anyone of their adventure? From what Sans had learned the humans seemed eager to cover up the past or the knowledge that monsters exist, so perhaps it would be better not to say anything. But then again, who would listen.

Sans gave himself a minute to just close his eyes and remember the good of this whole adventure before opening his eyes once more. It was time.

With his grin fading into a nice smile, Sans held his hand up to the invisible wall once more, closing his eyes and concentrating. He figured all he would have to do was believe that him and Papyrus could go through and then would fall through the barrier, but worry soon rooted itself in his heart when nothing happen.

Squeezing his eyes shut tighter, Sans willed himself to focus harder, believe that he was on the other side. Still the wall held firm to his touch, and with it his worry sprouted and took hold of his nerves. He opened his eyes for a second to stare at the barrier before trying again, his fingers pushing on the wall before he started to lean his weight into it.

Worry shifted into fear, and Sans could fee a cold sweat starting to form on his forehead. Why wasn’t this working? They should have crossed through easily.

Sans changed his tactics to thinking of him and Papyrus beyond the barrier, like he had done with the spider web and the black monster that held him. He expected that in a moment he would fall to the ground without the wall to lean on and be in front of it, but he didn’t feel any change. His eye burned like it was trying to obey what Sans was telling it, but something held him back.

In fear Sans retracted his hand, opening his eyes to find himself still behind the barrier. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Anger started to take Sans’ form as he crouched down and gently rested Papyrus near the barrier, propping him up so that he sat up with his back on the barrier.

Taking a few steps back, Sans let out a cry before ramming himself into the barrier, only to be met with a solid wall and pushed back. Sans stumbled for his footing, rubbing his arm that he so rudely shoved into the barrier before trying again. And again. And again.

“Why… why isn’t this working?!” Sans finally spoke, his breathing becoming heavy as he surveyed the emptiness before him. Desperation took form in his eyes when the grave thought of Papyrus dying here flashed through his mind, sending him to throw himself at the barrier again. “I need to get through! You have to let us through!!”

Being shoved back again, Sans rubbed his arm as he could feel the bruises starting to form, taking a moment to rest his weary body. “Isn’t a human soul supposed to pass through?!”

“A human soul can pass the barrier.”

Sans tensed when he heard a low, gravelly voice coming from behind him. He slowly turned his body to the source of the voice, having to look up to fully see who was before him since they were so tall. He did not recognize who this was and yet he knew who stood in the way of the only exit out, holding a long, red trident in his two fuzzy hands.

The monster before Sans appeared to be a goat monster, with long horns sprouting up from his white fur. Two floppy, bunny ears hung on either side of his head, and his face with his soft, black eyes was gentle. His head was covered in blonde hair from the top to his short beard, while a small, golden crown fit perfectly atop his head. A dark purple cape kept the rest of the goat monster’s body hidden, save for the large and intimidating golden shoulder pads that were stitched onto the cape and drawn together by a golden chain.

“Asgore…” Sans growled, for who else could this be but the King himself. The King of the Monsters, the one who reigned over the Underground. And yet he looked nothing like the contempt, evil and sadistic King he thought he would be.

Asgore seemed pained to look upon Sans and Papyrus; how dirty, torn and blood-stained their clothes were, how dirt was caked onto their skin and faces, how messy and unruly their hair was, and how savage their eyes had become.

When Sans’ attention had fallen onto the King he looked as though he held his breath, though he still spoke with a tone of authority. “You need a human and a monster soul in order to pass the barrier.”

Sans brought his feet close together when standing before the King, feeling a sick smile sprout on his face. “Oh, is that all? That’s all it takes to get across the barrier?”

He laughed at the sick irony of it all, causing Asgore to grow nervous and clench his trident tighter in confusion. “All this time, I’ve told myself that death was the last option. That I would never kill a monster.”

Sans brought a hand to his forehead, fingers passing through his knotted and disgusting hair before locking eyes onto Asgore. The determination was something to behold. “But now that I know that death is my key out, well…”

His right hand dipped into his pocket and then sliced the air before him, brandishing his hunter’s knife once more. He broadened his stance and lightly crouched now that Papyrus wasn’t weighing him down, smiling before the King. “I don’t feel so hesitant about killing you.”

Asgore’s eyes swelled with concern. “Please, I mean you no harm. I have been informed about your conditions and what is happening. You two need to seek medical attention immediately.”

To show a sign of peace Asgore let the front of his trident face downward and he took a step forward, to which Sans took one back. It was like a hunter trying to help a wounded beast. “Let me help you, child.”

Sans felt himself hesitant for a moment when Asgore extended his hand, palm facing upwards while he smiled in a loving manner. He felt so angry and energized like a wild animal, but in that moment of hesitation, he didn’t know **why** he was so angry.

He understood that Papyrus’ life was on the line but Asgore didn’t seem to show any signs of malicious intent or tricking him. He wanted to help them, he was showing them mercy.

Suddenly everything didn’t make sense as Sans clenched his head, staggering backwards for a moment. His mind was like a battlefield, two unknown forces clashing against one another for control of his thoughts. His head grew light, his stomach gurgled in its sickening way. Coughs crawled up his throat ready to exit the mouth and his legs felt like jello.

_Don’t let him confuse you! He’s the only thing standing in your way, kill him!!_

The child’s voice rang clear inside Sans’ mind, sharp and quick like a knife to his senses. Sans just wanted to accept the help and rest, how he just wanted to close his eyes and let whatever was stirring inside of him to take hold. He opened his eyes to see a blurry picture of something purple moving towards him, a giant, white paw coming close.

Fear overtook Sans’ mind and without thinking he slashed the knife in front of him. “Get away from me!”

A pained cry was heard as the picture before Sans revealed itself. Asgore took a step back, his right hand clenching his left hand. Sans realized what he had just done, his mind stunned.

Then, everything erupted into hatred. His anger and energy returned full-force, with Sans frowning.

Threateningly Sans held the knife out once more, keeping it between Asgore and himself. “Ever since Pap and I fell down here, it’s been nothing but the same thing. Monsters chasing us, threatening us, trying to murder us. None of them cared about our well-being, so why should you be any different?!”

Sans took a large step forward, making Asgore step back for if he didn’t he’d have a knife in his stomach. “I’m tired of believing that there is mercy down here, that one monster doesn’t look at us as just some happy-meal with a prize inside!”

Determined Sans brought the knife up to his face but didn’t focus on his reflection or the fact that his brown eye was slowly turning to red. “I’m tired of trying to pacifist my way through this hell-hole. In this world, it’s kill or be killed. So you got two choices here, Kingy. You either finish me off,”

He then extended his hand once more, knife pointing straight for Asgore’s heart. “Or I kill you.”


	18. Level 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post this sooner! Been busy with hw and projects at school, so I didn't have time this morning. Stay with me at the end for some additional notes!

Asgore had seen this situation many times. Kill, or be killed. It was nothing new to him, for he knew it all too well.

Whenever a human child had fallen into the Underground, they were presented the same conditions. Either to kill Asgore and leave, or die trying. Some pleaded up until their final breath, some fought with all their might only to be cut short, one tried to run for their life while another banged on the barrier with every ounce of strength they had.

Asgore knew what it was like to be the reaper of souls, and when news had spread of two humans falling into the Underground, he had been preparing himself for the inevitable outcome. That was, until he received startling news from his top scientist.

Now he understood why his top scientist was so panicked and worried, for the sight before him was one of horror. He could feel the human part of their souls slipping away, the monster half of them eating them alive.

Normally the transformation was a smooth transition, as the human-monster children had no _determination_ to fight off the monster soul from taking over. But something was wrong here, something was halting the transformation.

Asgore could feel the human who laid on the ground soul disappearing, but the one that stood before him, his soul was mutating. He could see his blue soul become tainted with something black and tar-like which held off the other side, his monster soul, from crossing over and completing the change. His soul shuddered and churned like goo, and Asgore could see some of the transformation shine through the human, such as his black eye and the fact that the skin on his arms and hands looked cracked and dry, like it could peel away any second.

If he was going to save these humans, he needed to bring them back to the lab as quickly as possible.

Asgore lowered his trident. “I will not fight you.”

Sans simply huffed, his smile twisting into his familiar grin. “I don’t mind. It’ll make your death quicker!”

Arm swung back, Sans ran towards the standing Asgore with the full intention of murdering the King. Asgore however had no intention of harming the human, and in a swift motion he used the end of his trident to slap Sans’ hand with the knife away, then lunge into Sans and pin him to the ground.

He kept Sans down with the staff of his trident while lowered on one knee, feeling Sans struggling to get free. His eyes burned with malicious intent while his left eye literally burned blue, his teeth grinding against one another.

He tried to free his right arm with his knife, using his body to try and wiggle out. “Let me go! I have to kill you!!”

“Your mind is clouded, my child.” Asgore showed pain on his face before releasing a deep sigh. “Do not fight the changes. It will only hurt you if you do.”

Figuring it might be awhile until Sans calmed down, Asgore summoned forth two giant, white hands. He quickly pushed himself off of Sans and backwards just as the hands came down gently on Sans, holding him to the floor while he helped himself up. His eyes wandered over to where Papyrus was sitting, walking over to go and pick him up.

Sans noticed this and fought even harder against the hands that held him, his irises shaking from how mad he was becoming. “I won’t let you take him!! Don’t touch him!!!”

Asgore didn’t listen to Sans’ screams, crouching down to inspect Papyrus. He frowned to hear how shallow his breathing was, moving his arms to take him into his. He would take this one to his top scientist first, then come back for the other one when he had settled down.

Sans’ mind however was in a fit of frenzy and insanity, his vision going red when Asgore’s hands came close to touching Papyrus. A sickening, ripping sound was made as Sans suddenly felt his left hand free, reaching out towards Asgore and Papyrus. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!”

Swinging his left hand back, Asgore and Sans were both shocked when blue erupted over Asgore’s form, flinging him to the other side of the room. Sans blinked for a second before focusing himself out of the hand’s grip only to appear lying beside his brother.

Fumbling Sans rose to his feet, noticing the blue glow that over took his hand, as well as the fact that he no longer had skin. The skin that covered his hand had been ripped away with torn edges ending at his wrists. He surveyed the muscle he could suddenly see in between the bones that made up his hand, before deciding to wiggle his fingers.

His fingers wiggled back at him, feeling no pain or burning sensation like he had thought. Sans knew he should have been freaking out, perhaps even screaming, but instead he felt himself laugh, clenching his hand into a fist.

Asgore helped himself up with his trident when he heard Sans maniacally laugh, noticing his left hand clean of any skin or blood. His thoughts grew mortified before looking up at Sans, who held his head high and laughed like this was the best joke he had ever heard. He was going mad with insanity.

“I didn’t think how ‘liberating’ it would feel to lose your own skin!” Sans said allowed, his head slowly turning to stare at Asgore. Even from so far away he could see how badly his irises shook, how they cried out for help underneath all of the insanity. “I thought I would ‘femur’ pain.”

Pocketing his knife and lifting his right hand, Sans found a small piece of his skin curling off of his wrist. He pulled upon it, watching the skin peel off of his hand before casting it aside. He flexed a few fingers. “Much better. My left hand was feeling ‘bonely’.”

“Child, you need to stop!” Asgore stood straight while taking his trident into both hands, catching the attention of Sans. “This isn’t supposed to happen! Your soul is reacting violently to the change!”

“You got that right, Kingy.” Sans face stretched into his grin, only now it was more frightening as the ends of his lips literally curled. “And if it’s a monster I need to be to save Papyrus, then it’s ‘tibia’ expected that I wouldn’t hesitate to become one.”

Slamming his foot into the ground, Sans wasn’t surprised when a line of bones smashed through the ground and headed towards Asgore. The King used his trident to block himself from the attack, though when he lowered his trident he was surprised to find Sans coming down upon him.

He twirled to the side as Sans landed inches away from where stood earlier, allowing a rupture of bones to pop out of the ground around him. Sans pulled himself to his feet, his grin and blue eye locked onto Asgore as he thrust his left hand at him.

Asgore jumped into the air just as another wave of bones overtook the ground, being smacked backwards and falling back-first onto the ground when a few bones flew into his stomach. Sans giggled when he watched Asgore fall to the ground, walking over to where he laid while bones started to materialize in the air behind him. “You ‘crack’ me up, Kingy.”

Waving his fingers, Sans allowed the bones floating beside him to launch at Asgore. In fear Asgore flung his cape in front of his face and launched himself backwards as the bones stabbed into the floor with cracks and creaks.

Asgore stood up just as another wave of bones flew towards him. With a swipe of his right foot there grew columns of fire, creating a wall of flames inches away from his face. The bones smashed on impact when hitting the flames, exploding and sending small bone shards towards Sans.

Sans gasped and used his arms to block his head, letting out a pained cry when some of the shards stabbed into his arms and legs. He lowered his arms, the smile of his grin falling for a frown while blood trickled out of his new wounds. “That was a pretty ‘sharp’ idea.”

“I did not mean for the bones to hurt you.” Asgore replied, letting his wall of flames cool down. “But you are losing control of yourself. Let me help you!”

In response to his words Asgore moved both of his hands forward, feeling his ears flutter in front of his eyes while his two, giant hands came forth. They eagerly flew towards Sans for a quick capture while Sans crouched low.

He shut and eyes and hoped for more bones, but nearly had a heart attack when he heard something inhuman and monstrous scream above him. Asgore gasped when the giant hands suddenly disintegrated only to reveal to white energy blasts coming straight for him. In quick thinking Asgore allowed his trident to turn bright blue and twirled it in a circular motion as fast as he could.

The blast was a lot stronger than Asgore had anticipated. He grunted while his right foot kicked up, giving him the deadly option of falling backwards and into the blast. However he caught his foot before it could throw his entire frame off and placed it behind him, continuing to twirl his trident as fast as he could. Should he stop or slow fragments of the blast would zipped straight at him, a fate he wished to stay away from. Streams of light blinded his eyesight and he was forced to close his eyes with the blast itself ricocheted off of his trident and around the room.

Asgore took a deep breath of air when he felt the blasts die down, his body lightly sore from the sudden force that he met with. Reluctantly Sans slowly stood up, frightened to notice two giant, floating skulls behind him. Their irises blazed yellow in their eye sockets, with their supposed chins closing in after unleashing their blast. The ends of the skulls curled upwards and the skulls resembled that of dragons.

Sans felt his smile return as he watched the blasters disappear, rearing his head back at Asgore, who blinked in confusion and fright. He only knew of one monster who could summon those blasters, and for a moment Asgore felt himself being taken back to a time long, long ago.

_Please… help me!!_

“Look alive, Kingy!” Asgore was drawn back into the fight only to swing his trident in front of him to block another barrage of bones.

Sans drew closer to Asgore as waves of bones slid up and down from the ground, throwing his right and left hand to and fro while summoning more bones. “If you stop paying attention you’ll end up with a ‘skele-ton’ of trouble.”

Firing one last barrage of bones Sans crouched one more, summoning three more blasters which erupted with white energy blasts. Asgore dodged the last wave of bones before lunging to the side and out of the blasts way, but Sans merely turned in Asgore’s direction as he ran while the blasters followed Sans’ turn.

With every step Asgore took he could hear waves of bones erupt from the ground behind him, trying to trip him up only to let the blasters due him in. When a wave appeared before him he smashed the end of his trident into the ground, propelling him over the bones before rolling back onto the ground and continuing his run.

With each blaster that disappeared Sans summoned another, snapping his fingers to create one before him as he climbed atop of it. Sans had never felt so powerful before in his life, it was a delicious sensation. The power to destroy, to kill anyone that he saw fit. It was beautiful, and Sans thought of all the people he could turn this on.

But before he could start his slaughter, he had to take out the King first.

Signaling the blaster to shoot, Sans steered the blaster he rode over to where Asgore was fleeing. He swerved the blaster in front of the King, who quickly changed his trident to light blue and spun it to block himself from the blast. Sans only laughed in delight as he summoned more blasters around Asgore in a circle, to which Asgore noticed just as they opened their mouths to blast.

With a great leap Asgore soared out of the ring of blasts only to have one of his giant hands catch him, noticing Sans riding his blaster after him. Asgore saw the invisible walls of the barrier start to become overrun with bones sticking out or forming crazy structures, reflecting the state of mind that Sans was in at the moment. He gave Sans a quick glance who was beneath him as he turned his head forward to notice that Sans was suddenly in front of him.

He grinned madly when jumping from his blaster, knife clenched in both hands as he swung upwards to come down onto Asgore. He only had time to throw his cape in front of him just as Sans smashed into him, and both were sent to the floor.

A massive wave of bones smashed upwards from the ground when Sans fell atop of Asgore, panting from how strenuous this fight had become. He started giggling when he thought of how red Asgore’s chest must be when he was suddenly flung to the floor.

He almost hit the ground only to have his bones catch him, sitting up in alarm as Asgore staggered to his feet. With his cape thrown to the side, Sans lost his smile when he saw the full suit of armor Asgore wore underneath his cape.

His knife stuck out of the chest plate right near the heart, to which Asgore pulled out slowly before throwing behind him. He looked to Sans with annoyance and fear. “That is enough! I won’t let this battle go on any longer!”

“Well if you want that to happen, you’re going to have to kill me.” Sans grinned, pushing himself back up to his feet. Behind him he could feel the blasters materialize, eyes set on Asgore. “But you’re not going to have that chance.”

With all the rumbles and shakes, Papyrus’ body slowly slid down the wall of the barrier before toppling onto the ground. With his face hitting the ground first, he was startled awake when his groggy consciousness heard what sounded like a vicious creature unleashing hell itself.

Eyes fluttering open, Papyrus let out a few coughs only to be greeted to a boney nightmare in front of him. The room was slowly being overrun with bones from the ceiling to the ground, save for a patch of land around him.

A monster he wasn’t familiar with ran up a staircase of never-ending bones, as large, skeletal hands came out of the wall to try and grab him. Each time the monster used their trident to hop over the advancing hands while also being chased by another figure who rode a funky skull. Other skulls of the same kind appeared every so often to blast at the stair-case, but was unsuccessful at hitting the monster.

“S-Sa-Sans?” Papyrus whimpered, feeling a few more coughs rack his body. His arms were like noodles and his head hurt but Papyrus pushed himself back up to sit, not really understanding just what he was leaning up against.

His eyes fixated on the scene above, watching the unknown monster summon fire that destroyed a row of blasters, causing them to erupt into a blaze of explosions and shards. Papyrus pulled his knees up when a few of the shards fell harmlessly over to where he sat, hearing insane laughter coming from the one who rode the blaster.

When the blaster disappeared the figure leapt at the monster running on the staircase, who in turn dove off of the stairs and into a giant, white hand. The figure fell after the monster as they descended towards the ground, creating a giant, boney hand to rise to sprout out of the ground and catch them safely.

It was only when they came to the ground that Papyrus saw that the attacker in question was his brother, showing off his eerie grin and pleading eyes.

Papyrus gasped and attempted calling his brother’s name, but only let out a few, shaky coughs instead. He watched his brother throw back both of his boney hands as the bones in the air came together to create a giant, bone scythe that he swung at the monster.

The monster, who Papyrus recognized as the King in the picture he saw, jumped back from the blade of the scythe and slammed a foot down, thrusting a giant hand at Sans just as he swung again, cutting the hands in half. Sans ran towards the King but he used his trident to swing over him, with his trident turning orange allowing Sans to pass through it safely.

Papyrus could see the delight and insanity in Sans’ smile as he continued to swing at the King, his chuckles imminent when he breathed. Sans was going to murder him.

Body shaking, Papyrus lifted his hands up, watching two stalks of bone slowly sprout from the ground before him. He used them to place his hands on, then slowly allowed them to grow taller, helping him up to his wobbly legs.

Papyrus figured he wouldn’t be able to take a step, so from beneath his feet he willed a small platform of bones to form so that he had transportation. On his feet and holding onto the bones, Papyrus willed the platform to move forward and onto the grave of bones, where the king was finding a hard time standing.

Being thrust backwards from a block to the bone scythe, Asgore tried getting to his feet but fell every time a bone erupted from the ground and smashed into his face. Sans stood still as he moved his fingers in the direction he wanted the bones to arise, but soon grew tired and instead let his left hand form over with blue.

By the time Asgore noticed the blue hue he was thrust into the air, being smacked upon the boney walls and ceiling back and forth, up and down, left, right, up, down, down, left, up, right.

Sans laughed like a maniac as his arm went wild in its movement, watching Asgore smash into his room of bones before throwing him back to the ground. Asgore, tired and growing weak, relied heavily on his trident to help him to one knee.

A flurry of bones from underneath him suddenly grabbed at his legs, leaving Asgore to struggle against the ground’s grip before noticing five blasters all around him. He heard Sans’ chuckles as he took his place behind the blasters, giving Asgore a wave of his boney hand.

“This has been fun, Kingy.” Sans spoke, raising his hand in anticipation of signaling the blasters. “But now it’s time for you to die. Bye-bye.”

With a flex of his fingers for comedic fun, Sans threw down his left hand allowing the blasters to fire.

“NO!!”

The familiar voice of his brother snapped Sans out of his insanity for a moment, noticing the lower half of his brother dive over to where Asgore was just as the blasters lit up the area in a bright light of destruction and chaos.

In less than a second all malicious intent, anger and enjoyment zipped out of Sans like a bullet to his heart, and in the next he was on his knees, screaming in agony and fear. He threw his arms to the side like a maniac. “STOP, STOP!!”

Obeying the blasters let their blasts die out before disappearing; leaving Sans to sit on his knees and stare at where Asgore and his brother were once. He expected to find nothing but a giant patch of smoldering bones and ashes on the ground where the blast was at full intensity, but was frightened and surprised to find a dome of bones instead.

The bones slowly fell to the ground, revealing Asgore and Papyrus inside, safe and sound. Asgore had broken his way out of his hold while Papyrus was left standing with his arms still held out, eyes shut painfully closed and breathing heavily.

When Papyrus didn’t hear the blasters anymore he dropped his arms and opened his eyes, noticing his brother on his knees before him.

“P-P-Pap…?” Sans voice shook like an earthquake, blue tears staining his dirtied cheeks. His eyes were wide open as if he had witnessed a murder, as if he couldn’t believe that his brother was still alive after that.

Papyrus gazed at his brother before furrowing his eyebrows. “I can’t believe you, Sans! After everything we’ve been through, this is your decision? To kill?!” Still Papyrus coughed badly but he wouldn’t let his condition stop him from scolding his brother.

Sans felt himself mentally backing away when Papyrus stumbled from taking a step. His legs soon gave out and Papyrus hit onto the ground, where he tried to pull himself up. Sans leaned forward to help his brother but when he saw his hands out of the corner of his eyes he drew them behind him.

What had he done?

Sans felt some of his anger return as Papyrus struggled to place his elbows on the ground. “I did it for you, Papyrus! I’m trying to save you!!”

“I didn’t ask for this!!” Papyrus shouted back, successfully getting to his elbows as he crawled over to where Sans sat. Everything in Papyrus’ body told him to stop but he inched himself forward to the fright of Sans. “I didn’t want you to go on an insanity streak and try to murder the King!!”

“But I need to get you home!”

“I don’t want to go home!!” Sans felt his body go stiff and his voice leave him when Papyrus had placed a shaking hand on his knee. He had pulled himself over to where Sans was sitting, using some magic to sprout bones from the ground to help him sit up.

Tired and exhausted Papyrus leaned back on the wall of bones he made, staring at Sans angrily in the eyes. “You never listen, do you. You lie to me, you hide things from me and you act in what you think is my best interest. What will make me happy. Well have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to be babied?”

Angrily Papyrus snatched one of Sans’ arms, thrusting his hand into his face. “Look at this, Sans.”

Sans closed his eyes and turned his head away when Papyrus held his hand up to him. When he didn’t look his brother shook his arm roughly. “Look at this!!”

Terrified Sans complied, turning to stare at the muscle and bones of his hand. No skin, no blood, with his skin starting to peel away from his wrists. If Sans wasn’t so terrified he would have puked. “This is not ok, Sans! You need help!! You’re killing yourself for me for a decision I was never ok with!!”

Papyrus let Sans’ hand drop, noticing Sans leaning his head forward and trying to grab Papyrus for a hug. He held him back though for the moment, shaking his head. “This has to stop, Sans. Stop caring about me and look after yourself.”

“I-I-I can’t.” Sans tried protesting, failing to get past Papyrus’ hands in order to hug him. Sobs racked his shoulders as he clenched his eyes shut. He could feel the entity within him stirring, trying to restart the fire within him. But he would never take his anger out on Papyrus. “I was… I was so scared…”

Sans soon felt a nudge of bones behind him, and he found his cheeks pressed up against the stiff, dirty polo shirt of Papyrus’. His brother wrapped his arms around him, resting his head on his. “I’m not dying, Sans…But please, I need you to be ok.”

“Children.” Papyrus gazed upwards at the King who stood before them.

He crouched down on one knee, extending a fuzzy hand towards them. “Your condition is growing grave. I thank you for helping to calm down your brother, but I must bring you two to the lab if you are to get better.”

Papyrus simply nodded his head in agreement. “Alright.”

Just as Papyrus turned his head back to look at his brother, something within Sans snapped. His body flinched dramatically before violently shoving Papyrus away from himself.

Papyrus gasped before falling backwards and cracking his head on the bones behind him. He only had a brief moment to stare up at the black ceiling before passing out, alarming Asgore to stand up on his feet.

Sans was now clutching his head like he was trying to break it in two, his body shaking violently while his blue eye blazed upwards like an inferno. He screams were so loud that the bones littering the ceiling and walls started to fall like rain, his voice drastically changing like his vocal chords were shifting.

All throughout the fight Sans felt perfectly fine even when he was calling upon so much magic. But now it felt like the thing holding back the transformation cracked, and like a ruptured damn his whole body was becoming infected.

The world through Sans’ eyes twisted and churned, then split into several different windows, each with a different view. He saw the stars glowing so close like he was in space; he saw his brother having the same seizure attack as him but in an orange hoodie and tan pants; he watch his brother angrily yell at him while an evil King loomed behind him, and he witnessed his brother fall before the King while lines of monsters with tommy guns and suits pointed their guns at him.

Unable to take anymore of the pain Sans allowed himself to collapse, but instead of falling onto the cold bones he instead fell into warm, furry hands. His body was soon cradled close to Asgore’s chest while the King bent over him, his concern only on him.

“Sleep, my child.” Asgore softly spoke to Sans as the world around him grew dark. “The pain will be gone soon…”

~~

_Muffled sobs brought Sans back to a moment in time, noticing that he was yet again a child. He still sat at the table where Papyrus was to have his 10 th birthday party, turning his head to notice Papyrus sitting on one of their couches. _

_He had moved to sit on them after their mother had left, with Papyrus curled in on himself. He tried to silence his cries with his shirt, his knees brought close to his head._

_Hurt and betrayed, Sans could no longer sit at the dinner table and watch his brother suffer. He pushed himself away from the table, then used it to help him out of his seat and to the ground._

_His bare feet made its way through the carpet of their house and over to where Papyrus sat, who didn’t bother to look up from his seat._

_“Papyrus.” Sans spoke, furrowing his eyebrows when his brother didn’t respond._

_Grabbing onto the seat, Sans lifted himself up and into the chair Papyrus sat in, crawling to sit in between his older brother and the arm rest. “Papyrus.”_

_“Leave me alone.” Papyrus sniffled, trying to bury his head deeper into his shirt. “Just leave me like everyone else.”_

_As he moved his head farther into the crevice between his chest and knees he suddenly felt Sans’ hands around his own, stopping him from descending any farther. “Hey.”_

_Gently Sans forced his brother’s head back up, slowly peeling away his hands. He saw how red his brother’s eyes were, how tears still trailed down his cheeks in the same path all the other ones took._

_Seeing that much sorrow and self-pity gave Sans a rocky feeling inside his heart. He wanted to get angry and tell Papyrus that everyone else was stupid, but he also wanted to be sad and cry alongside him for everyone forgetting about them._

_They only had each other._

_Faced with either option, Sans soon became known to a third option inside his mind. They only had each other, and with that information, he smiled. “Hey, it’ll be ok.”_

_Papyrus gave Sans a confused look. “Why are you smiling?”_

_“Because it’s not so bad.” Sans responded, moving Papyrus’ hands to his knees. “Sure, it’s just us but that’s not bad, is it? I’m still here.”_

_Papyrus pursed his lips and took his hands away, eyes shifting elsewhere. “But what about all my friends? What about mom and dad?”_

_“What about them?” Sans sat himself up on his knees as he rested his hands on Papyrus’ knees. “I bet they just forgot that today was the day. That’s all.”_

_“Mom and Dad didn’t.” Papyrus frowned, his eyes quivering as a few loose tears fell._

_Sans started to feel his smile fade when he noticed it might not be working, but he forced himself to try again. “Maybe their planning a secret party.”_

_Papyrus turned his attention back to Sans. “A secret party?”_

_Sans eagerly nodded his head. “Yeah, a secret party. With balloons and lots of presents to make up for today.”_

_“You really think they’re doing that?” Papyrus asked his brother. Sans was about to respond when he noticed how hopeful his brother had become. He looked to be on the verge of a smile._

_Sans knew everything he said was a lie, but if lies like that made Papyrus happy… then why shouldn’t he tell them? He deserved to be happy. He deserved someone who would always make him happy._

_And maybe… that could be him._

_Sans smile felt more natural now as he flashed his brother a cheerful grin. “Of course I know! They told me actually, but I wasn’t supposed to tell you. But since today wasn’t so hot, I figured you might need some cheering up.”_

_He winked at Papyrus. “But don’t let them know you know. It’ll ruin the surprise.”_

_“Wowie, they’re really doing that?” Papyrus’ eyes grew bright at such a revelation while staring off into the distance. His features were gentler now. “They really do care.”_

_“Of course they do.” Sans nodded his head, then moved in between his brother to give him a hug. “They love you, Papyrus. And I do too. So please, don’t be sad anymore.”_

_Sans didn’t know what was happening, but this feeling inside his heart. It was warm and fuzzy, like being wrapped in a snuggly blanket. He almost wished that this moment didn’t have to end._

**_“Aw, how sweet.”_ **

_Sans let go from his hug and backed up when he realized he wasn’t hugging Papyrus any longer. In fact he fell off of the couch in fright to this new child upon the chair, who moved out from under their knees to sit on their rear._

_“Who are you?” Sans gritted his teeth, staring angrily at the child before him. This wasn’t part of Sans’ memory, which meant that this intruder wasn’t part of him._

_The child sitting on the chair giggled at Sans’ question, deciding to swing their black shoes up and down from the couch. They wore long, brown pants and a big, bright green sweater with two stripes of yellow. Their skin was a little pale for a white kid, but their cheeks were very rosy. Short, brown hair fell down in streaks across the child’s head and upper forehead, but the most interesting thing about the child was their eyes. Their red eyes._

**_“Come now, don’t you remember me?”_ ** _The child asked, leaning over the couch a bit to inspect young Sans. Their smile was anything but warm or happy, it was cold and contempt, yet playful and amused. **“Surely you remember your partner, right?”**_

_Suddenly the voice matched up in Sans’ mind, and he knew the child understood too when their smile grew wider. **“Of course you remember.”**_

_“How?” Sans pushed himself up to his feet, startled on why he was still in this memory. He wasn’t turning back into a teenager and the memory acted like it was frozen, as if he had no control over the event._

_When he stood up Sans suddenly noticed his hunter’s knife sitting in the child’s lap, to which they picked up gently. **“You still don’t understand, do you? Who I am and why I’m here.”**_

_The child hopped off of the chair, starting to walk towards Sans while he stepped back. His eyes were only on the knife. **“I really thought we would be great partners, you and I. Sure, you were stubborn, but that last fight, eh? Quite some fun we had! I’ve never seen so much raw power before.”**_

_Sans felt his fear rise when the wall of his house was suddenly at his back, stuck between their grandfather clock and the bookshelf. **“You and me, we’re a lot alike. We both have people that shaped us to be who we are. We both hold a lot anger.”**_

_The child stopped for a moment, raising the knife up in mild amazement. **“I thought we were going to kill everyone happily together. But then… you hesitated.”**_

_Sans soon found the knife stuck in the wall near his cheek, with the child just inches away from his face. There was only insanity in their eyes; the kind that makes people smile when they’ve murdered someone. **“And I NEVER hesitate.”**_

_“You…” Sans gazed down for a moment before clenching his fists, staring back up at the young child cornering them. “You were the one who did this. You made me do all those terrible things.”_

**_“Did I?”_ ** _Innocently the child ripped the knife out of the wall, lightly twisting the knife back and forth with their wrist. **“Are you willing to blame all your anger and frustration on me? Remember, I was your guiding hand.”**_

_Roughly they took one of Sans’ hands, forcing the hilt of the knife into it while still holding on. The knife glowered dangerously close to the heart of the child. **“Are you telling me that you never felt like you wanted to kill someone? That you were never pushed to your edge? That you never wanted to hurt those who hurt you back?”**_

_Sans mouth stayed shut, for he couldn’t argue back. It felt as though the walls wriggled with all the malicious thoughts he had stored within him all his life, like black, thorny vines._

_The child giggled. **“I wasn’t the one controlling you. You were the one who decided to fight, you were the one who let your anger flourish. I simply motivated you.”**_

_It wasn’t often that Sans felt genuine fear, but now it scurried over him like a massive horde of spiders. This entity, this child was too much, the truth was too much._

_Sans gritted his teeth, trying to hide the fear in his eyes by burying his head. “Get out of my head. I don’t want you anymore!”_

_Tilting his head up, Sans was a little surprised the child wasn’t enjoying themselves more at his misery. They didn’t laugh or stab him, they just looked at him. Then, they scoffed, as if they expected Sans to say that. **“No. Of course you don’t want me anymore.”**_

_The child’s playful tone ceased to exist, now only replaced by disgust. “ **Because I’m at fault, right?”**_

_A faint rumble could be heard outside of the living room, making the child turn their head in the direction of the sound. Sans stood tall again just as the child gazed back at him with a frown, taking the knife back into their hands. **“Someday we’ll meet again. Not here, but out in the real world. Another child will fall down into the Underground. They will eventually get frustrated and call for me. I will answer that call. And when I do…”**_

_The child locked eyes onto Sans’ and as if to cast a spell he found his body locking up. The child simply smiled, but it was more eerie with those insane eyes. **“I’ll show you what we could have done together.”**_

_The room suddenly shook like a giant, slithering beast had brushed up against the memory. The child idly looked up to the ceiling. **“Looks like your brain is collapsing in on itself. I’ll leave you to that then.”**_

_Taking steps back, Sans was able to leave his cage while the child simply jumped backwards, disappearing into the surroundings. **“See you around, ‘partner’…”**_

_The only thing that was left as the child disappeared was the sound of their giggle echoing all around the room. Again the memory shook as Sans fell to his knees, noticing large, black cracks crawling in from corners and windows as the room shook again._

_Just as Sans tried getting up the room ripped into several pieces, being sucked down into a black abyss while Sans screamed along for the ride. Deeper and deeper did Sans drop until he felt himself smash onto ground he could not see. He helped himself to his feet, still confused on why he was a child before quickly ducking and covering his head as pieces of the memory smashed into the ground around him._

_When Sans lifted his head back up the world around him had changed. A sea of sickly colors dripped down the horizon, and sounds played backwards before being pulled out of existence._

_Turning his head to the sky, Sans gasped before crouching down and covering his head as more memories fell from the abyss only to smash and shatter. A few memories stuck up from where they pierced the invisible ground, while others still tried to play out with pieces missing._

_Hesitantly Sans lifted his head back up, scurrying over to one memory in particular of him and Papyrus as children a few months after Papyrus’ 10 th birthday. His heart hurt to see how broken the memory was, lifting a hand over the memory as if to touch it._

_Suddenly the shard of memory lit up as Sans staggered backwards, before turning into a small ball of light. It floated gently in the air before deciding to zip around Sans’ body and rest in his open palm. Sans blinked for a moment before deciding to lightly touch the ball, only to hear fragments of Papyrus’ laughter from the memory he found._

_Furrowing his eyebrows, Sans started to run around the field of broken memories, raising his hand over all of the ones nearest to him as they turned into light and connected with the ball of light in his hand. He didn’t get far however as a piece he was running towards was suddenly engulfed in a white blast of light._

_Sans fell backwards from the impact of the blast, alarmed to see the skulls of the blasters hovering above him, only larger and more frightening than the ones he had come to know. Several others hovered in the background of the world as fragments of memories were wiped out, never to be seen again._

_“No!” With little time left Sans continued to run around the giant black world, collecting more memories while many were blasted and destroyed. More memories fell from the sky but that only created more blasters, and soon the littered graveyard was becoming bare._

_Sans felt himself run as fast as he could for the last memory in the room, where a blaster was charging up its final charge. The light in his hand had grown to be the size of his hand, floating alongside him while he ducked his head and lunged for the memory. Just as he touched it the blaster fired its charge, and Sans looked up in time to be impacted head on._

_The ground around Sans’ cracked in white before breaking and allowing Sans to continue his fall, the ball of light returning back to his open palm. He closed his hand and saw the light disappear, but knew that it was inside him for the moment._

_Large, grey string was what awaited Sans next as he fell into a den of webs. They wrapped around him and burned his skin upon impact, clinging onto his arms and legs and holding him from touching the ground._

_“Let me go!” Sans cried out, only to hear nothing but his echo in return. Then, a light suddenly shined down on Sans, and he realized that he dangled above a wooden stage._

_Dozens of Floweys and other monsters sat in red seats before the stage, their laughs demented and horrifying. A giant, wooden puppet of Sagiv stood atop the stage, their bow and arrow in one hand while they squawked like a dumb parrot._

_Sans attempted to struggle but suddenly found that he wasn’t in control of his body. The webs he was attached to pulled him from side to side, making him dance and spin like an idiot while the crowd continued to laugh._

_“Stop it, Stop it!” Sans yelled through bitter tears, trying once more to wriggle himself free. But no one heard him over their laughter, no one dared to set him free._

_Angrily Sans looked up in hopes of finding who was controlling him, but was surprised on who it was. It was his mother and father, whose movements were jerky and sad like puppets as their arms were held up by white string that disappeared into the blackness above the sky. His mother had paper tears running down her face from her button eyes, her hair falling down her head like string as she wore one of her shawls around her shoulders. Her lips moved up and down like a wooden doll, cooing. “My child… Oh my poor Sans…”_

_His father on the other hand was cut out from a military uniform, his hands large and made of metal as his button eyes had been cut in half to form slits. He moved back and forth, waving his hand as it pulled Sans along. “I’m doing you a favor…”_

_Closing his eyes, Sans continued to struggle against the webs that held him, trying to block out the laughs all around him. They burned and dug into his skin but Sans kept pushing himself to resist, feeling a part of him rip out of his skin._

_Finally relief came when Sans fell to the floor of the stage, startled and horrified when he noticed his hands were bone. He felt his body, realizing that his entire being was nothing but a skeleton now, before looking back up at the webs._

_A young boy hung in the web’s grasp, surprised as well to see him and still struggling to escape. Turning his skull to the voices again, Sans stumbled onto his feet and leapt down from the stage, despite the protests of the young boy. “No, come back!”_

_Beneath the stage was another wave of darkness, as Sans continued to descend into madness._

_The black of his mind dissipated for tan landscapes, a world cast in tans, blacks, grays and whites. Instead of falling, Sans found himself standing in the middle of a field, wearing a young boy’s clothes from centuries long ago._

_“Sans!” Sans turned his head to notice a young Papyrus standing a few feet away, who was being held back by their father. A lot of other humans stood behind Sans’ father, angry and shouting while shaking their fists at whoever was behind him._

_In confusion Sans turned his skull only to see camps upon camps of monsters with their belongings, heading down a beaten trail that led underneath a large mountain. They were beaten and hung their heads low, moving in sync to a tune that haunted his memory but couldn’t place his finger on what it was. Some sort of lullaby._

_“Don’t ever come back, you filthy monsters!” Sans turned his skull back to notice one woman in particular standing out from the rest. She was the one who picked up a rock and threw it at one of the monsters, her red eyes glaring in malicious anger while her long, brown hair swayed behind her long, brown dress. Her belly was slightly swollen._

_“Save us, Sans!” Again Sans looked back over to the trail of monsters, where two young, human girls were wrestling their way out of some monster’s hold. In escaping the girls ran towards Sans, and upon closer inspection he realized he had seen them before, except not as humans. Their names were lost to him though._

_“Save us, please!” They begged, but the closer they got to Sans, the more hideous and monstrous their forms took. Insect hair and spider legs ripped out from their skin and clothes, transforming into giant, rapid spiders. “ **SaVe UsSsSsSs!!!”**_

_Sans turned around and ran as the spiders scurried after him with fangs dripping with venom. In a flash of light Sans was suddenly in the middle of a storm, fleeing his way up the mountain. He didn’t understand why he was running but he knew he needed to when he heard angry villagers coming his way. “Don’t let the monster escape!!”_

_A bolt of lightning struck the sky as Sans fell to his hands and knees on a small ledge between the trees and bushes. He heard the mob get closer, being able to see the glow of fire within the distance. Without a second thought Sans punched his hands into the mud in front of his knees, throwing mud, dirt and worms aside as he dug himself a big hole._

_Deeper and deeper he made that hole, trying to escape the people pursuing him when, as he struck his hand in for some dirt, not only did he not grab any but the ground he sat on suddenly gave away. Sans felt himself fall once more, watching the rain, the dark sky, and the growing light all disappear for complete darkness._

_Perpetually Sans fell with no clear conscious of time, space or what was happening. His mind felt blank like an empty canvas with no thought or feeling._

_He felt his body turn around as he continued to fall, noticing a small mirror growing larger and larger as he fell closer to it until it became the size of buildings. He could see himself as a human amongst a blue fog._

_A bellowing voice rang through the darkness with no clear resemblance of who it was. “WHO ARE YOU?”_

_Sans locked gazes with himself in the mirror, watching as his eyeballs fell out of his head while his skin dripped onto his clothes. His hair slowly slid off like twigs going along with a mudslide, and his nose wasn’t able to hold on much longer and disappear beneath the mirror’s gaze._

_Even in such a horrific moment, Sans did not feel fear or sadness._

_Instead, he smiled in pure bliss, whispering. “I’m nothing.”_

“Sans? ….Sans, can you hear me?”

Slowly the world made itself known to Sans, who lightly shook his head from the deep slumber he had been in. His eye sockets slowly opened to see a light blue ceiling above him, feeling warm blankets covering his body.

Sans took a moment to stare at the ceiling, his mind empty of thought before finally deciding to sit up. He took his time to sit up in the bed that he was resting in, taking noticing of his arms and hands, which were made entirely of bone. He then felt his face, feeling his skull and nose hole, his eye sockets and cheeks.

For the moment Sans was dressed in short sleeved, light blue pajamas, which were fuzzy and felt nice on his ribcage and spine. He then took note of his bed, which was a dark blue comforter atop of blue sheets with a white pillow to rest his head on.

“Hey there…”

A soft voice pulled Sans to look in front of him, where another figure had been sitting at the end of his bed. This person was a skeleton, just like him, only there were cracks down his left eye to his mouth, and a long crack going up his skull on his right eye. He wore a white turtle neck with a long, black sweater over it, long black pants and black loafers, but the strangest thing about him was his hands, which had two giant holes in his palms.

His smile was sweet and comforting while he kept his hands on his knees. “How are you feeling?”

Sans blinked for a moment, registering that this skeleton’s dialogue was rather rough, but still understandable. “I’m fine.”

Hearing his own voice seemed to startle Sans, his hands moving up to where his mouth was. He could feel his teeth, but they didn’t feel like they moved when he spoke. He tried again, keeping his hands on his teeth. “Hello?”

Sans jerked his head away when his mouth didn’t move, yet his voice came out clear as if he didn’t need to move them. A simple laugh brought Sans back over to the other skeleton, who tried to hide his smile. “Oh! Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh.”

Leaning forward, Sans was a little startled when the tall skeleton pulled out a small flashlight, clicking it on. He tried to lean his skull back but the tall skeleton placed a hand behind his skull to keep him from moving, shining the light into his eye sockets. “Pupils are dilating normally, no discoloration…”

Clicking off the light, he then held the flashlight in front of Sans. “Follow the tip of the flashlight with your eyes, please.”

Sans did as he was told, anxious and confused on why this was occurring. The tall skeleton lightly hummed. “Eyes seem to be moving in sync, any discomfort when you move them?”

“No.” Sans tried to shake his skull but remembered that it was being held.

Setting the flashlight down and taking his hand off of San’s skull, the tall skeleton reached behind them for what appeared to be a small wooden slab. “Open your mouth.”

“Uh…” Sans gazed down at his teeth, then reluctantly back up to his guest. “I don’t think I can.”

The skeleton frowned, but not in a scolding way. “Go ahead and give it a try.”

Looking back down at his teeth, Sans mustered the will to attempt to open his mouth. He grunted lightly while his skull rattled until he gave up. “Nothing.”

“Hmm.” The tall skeleton gently wafted his right hand through the air, its hand glowing light blue. Sans grew nervous when the blue glow appeared around his skull, a pressure not there before growing at the front of his teeth. He lightly whimpered just as a light, popping sound could be heard.

Scared Sans looked down to notice that his mouth had opened, though it so desperately wanted to be closed. The blue magic centered around his teeth to keep them from coming down on the skeleton’s hands when he stuck the wooden slab in and onto what Sans thought was his tongue.

He took a moment to poke around inside his mouth before finally taking his wooden slab back. “Everything looks normal in there.”

Allowing the magic to disperse, Sans had to hold his skull when his teeth chomped back down, closing off his mouth from the rest of the world. Sans lightly felt his teeth and cheekbones, turning his attention back to his guest just as he had pulled up his shirt.

Flustered Sans lightly gasped, a blue hue over taking his cheekbones. He grabbed his shirt to pull back down only to notice that the skeleton was holding a small, metal box in his hand, with his other fed a small cord over to his ribcage. “Just relax. I’m observing your soul right now to make sure it’s steady and healthy.”

“O-Oh.” Sans squirmed a little at the thought of something looking at his soul, but decided to relax and let this skeleton finish his check-up. A moment of silence over took the room as Sans waited for whatever readings on the metal box to be good, and he knew things were ok when the skeleton smiled with relief. “Readings look normal and stable.”

Sitting back up, the skeleton took his hand out from Sans’ ribcage, allowing him to pull back down his shirt. He absentmindedly put away his belongings behind him. There was an air of calm now that wasn’t in the room before.

Turning his attention back to Sans, the skeleton pressed one of his hands onto the bed, leaning a little forward. “Sans, do you remember anything? Anything about your life?”

Sans didn’t understand the question at first, deciding to take a look around the room. The room he was in felt new and strange, with the walls painted a nice blue and a blue rug just beneath his bed above the carpet. There was a bookshelf in his room with various books stored in neat rows but there was another bed in the room that was empty. A red bed.

“Where’s Papyrus?” Sans asked, blinking again as his eyes searched the room.

“Papyrus?” The skeleton sounded surprised just as both of them heard a young voice.

“Sans?”

Sans turned his skull over to the wooden door across from his bed. Hanging onto the doorknob with both of his hands stood Papyrus, who was also a skeleton just like his brother.

His mouth slightly opened into a happy smile when he noticed Sans was awake, wearing a knitted red sweater and long, tan pants.

“Papyrus.” Sans breathed, his eyes relaxing as he watched Papyrus scamper over to the bed. His older brother appeared to be no older than eight, but somehow that sounded right to Sans. He looked himself over again to see that he was also a child, but didn’t question why.

Lifting himself up onto the bed, Papyrus crawled over to where Sans sat and gave him a big hug. “You’re awake! You’re awake!”

“I am awake.” Sans replied, his eye sockets closing when Papyrus hugged him and rested his skull atop his.

“Sans.” Sans opened his eye sockets again when the older skeleton addressed him.

He looked a little concerned, with his right hand hovering in the air. “Sans, what do you remember?”

Papyrus stared down at Sans while he contemplated the question. Finally his eyes looked up at the older skeleton, his face blank. “I remember Papyrus. But… I don’t remember much else.”

He blinked, head cocked slightly to the left. “Who are you?”

The older skeleton let out a breath of air, as if he was relieved a little to hear that answer. His eye shifted away for a second before back to Sans. “I already told this to your brother, but I found you two outside of Hotland just a few days ago. I tried finding your parents or someone who knew you but no one knew where you came from or who your parents were. So… in light of what has happened, I have decided to take care of you two. I know we may not be biological but I am hoping that we can overlook that.”

The older skeleton’s smile grew a little. “We’re going to be a family, ok?”

“We get to live in this nice house!” Papyrus placed his hands on Sans’ skull, lifting his skull over his to get a better look at his eyes. “It has a kitchen, and-and we have our own bedroom, and there’s a couch downstairs!”

Sans smiled to Papyrus as he gave one back before adjusting his attention back over to the other skeleton. He blinked once more. “Are you our dad then?”

“Dad?” The skeleton seemed rather flushed when asked that, his cheekbones turning light pink. He brought a hand up to his cheek. “No no, you don’t have to call me that.”

“What should we call you then?” Papyrus asked as Sans noticed the window behind the tall skeleton. Snow fell gracefully down from outside while a white fog overtook the land behind it.

Sans brought himself back to his their room when he heard the skeleton speak. “Well… how about Uncle Gaster?”

Papyrus angled his skull down to look at Sans, who looked up. They both smiled before nodding their heads, giving Gaster their attention. “Uncle Gaster sounds nice.”

“Then it’s settled.” Gaster brought his two hands together, lightly nodding his head. “So long as I live, I will watch over you two and raise you to be the best monsters you can be.”

“Alright Uncle Gaster!” Papyrus shouted in excitement. He scampered his way off of Sans’ head before rushing into Gaster, who brought his arms up in alarm. He wasn’t expecting Papyrus to give him a tight hug, with little giggles in between his breathing.

Gaster felt his cheeks grow pink again as he noticed Sans crawl his way out of his covers and over to where Gaster sat. He joined Papyrus in hugging the tall skeleton, who seemed hesitant and surprised.

Sans lifted his skull up when Gaster looked flustered on what to do with his arms. “Haven’t you ever had a hug?”

“O-Oh, I have.” Gaster turned his skull away for a moment. “It’s just been awhile.”

Slowly his arms cradled the two boys, giving them a gentle hug back. He lowered his head to barely rest it above Sans and Papyrus’ head, taking this moment to look outside at the falling snow. “Welcome home, you two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this story hasn't been posted in regular intervals like I would have liked, I want to thank every one of you that has stuck with me since the beginning, the middle, or just joining now! Your feedback and enthusiasm really helped me keep up with this story and i'm happy to announce that this isn't the end!
> 
> While I don't know exactly when it's coming, there will be a sequel; Accepting Darkness! It's still in development, so more than likely it'll be coming sometime next week, but until then I'll be posting some behind the scene notes, and two one-shots that were voted on over at Fanfiction. 
> 
> Again, thank you for reading this story!


	19. Behind the Scenes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a new chapter, but I thought you guys would like to get a behind-the-scenes look at the story. Enjoy!

  * Fading Light was born when I was watching SteamTrain’s play through of Undertale. As Barry and Ross played through the game, Ross stated one of his theories that Sans and Papyrus could have been humans at one point, which I thought was a pretty cool idea and used as a base to build this story.



 

  * In early concepts of the story, Sans and Papyrus would have been young children like the other fallen children. Sans had a very outgoing and adventurous spirit while Papyrus would have been timid and reluctant about everything, in order to contrast their present counterparts. However it was decided to make them teenagers, though their personalities were transferred over to Mary and Carrie.



 

  * When creating the plot, I had Sans and Papyrus get to the barrier very early in the story. They would have found out that they couldn’t pass through and the rest of the story would have been them trying to survive in hiding. This was scrapped when I quickly realized that just the journey to the barrier would have been a story in itself.



 

  * Originally, Sans and Papyrus were going to die. This was changed as I had a hard time explaining how they would become monsters if their souls were taken, and also the fact that I wouldn’t be able to write it without bawling.



 

  * Back when death was the end result, I knew I wanted Papyrus to die first. The first idea was of him dying of starvation when him and Sans tried to survive in hiding with Sans soon following, and the other was both boys dying in a brutal fight against the Royal Guard. Papyrus would have fallen first and Sans would have been done in by Sagiv, with Sans saying how he was too weak to save his brother over and over until he was killed.



 

  * Keshika and Raviath are **loosely** modeled after my own parents without the abusive part.



 

  * How Papyrus and Sans transition to finding out their powers to mastering them in just a few minutes is what I like to call “The Spectacular disbelief” modeled off of the Spectacular Spider-man show where most of the villains were masters of their powers after just using them for the first time.



 

  * There are a few pop culture and technology references in Fading Light to help solidify the fact that Sans and Papyrus come from a different era. This includes the walk-man, no mention of a cell-phone, Crocodile Rock, Casper, box TVs, pagers, exercise DVDs and mix tapes.



 

  * Speaking of DVDs, those were supposed to be VHS, but I forgot to change it. Papyrus and Sans’ journey takes place before the invention of the DVD, so earlier than 1995 for those of you wondering.



 

  * Papyrus eventually forgets that he’s carrying around a pager, and so did I.



 

  * The reason no specific date was given as to what year this takes place is because I wanted it to be like the game, where we don’t know exactly what year Frisk falls down. That, and also the fact that I didn’t want to box myself in as if I gave date, then I would have to abide by the years from this time to Undertale, and that would have made things more strict on my part.



 

  * While I like to keep Sans and Papyrus as close to character as I can, one thing I forgot to give Sans was the habit of combing his hair. I kept trying to work it in but it never fit the mood, so sorry Sans, but that hair is staying messy.



 

  * Sans and Papyrus’ journey is supposed to mirror the journey all fallen children have to make in order to reach the barrier. This gives Sans a better understanding of Frisk’s journey through the Underground in the present.



 

  * There were some early concepts of other places Sans and Papyrus could have traveled to, such as a cactus bar located deep in Hotland, but was scrapped because I didn’t want to overcrowd the story with needless OC’s.



 

  * In total there are only six main OC’s in this story; Sagiv, the two Royal Guards, Mrs. Flame, Volare and Charlotte.



 

  * The idea that Sans and Papyrus descended from monster-humans wasn’t thought up until I had already completed Level 3 and was already posting the story.



 

  * Despite Fading Light’s success, this isn’t a story I feel too proud of. The plot wasn’t fully fleshed out when writing it, some characters felt off, it basically wasn’t how I have written stories before. I hope to change this and get a more solid story with Accepting Darkness.



 

  * Originally Sans was going to meet Alphys and Gaster. Gaster would have told Sans how they saved Papyrus back in Snowdin with Alphys going off about how easy her hints were to understand if only Papyrus watched “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie”.



 

  * Originally Papyrus was going to sing “I can’t get no Satisfaction” but that was scrapped really quickly for obvious reasons.



 

  * No Megalovania was played during the entire writing of the boss fight between Asgore and Sans. It was instead a few MLP remixed songs by TheLivingTombstone.



 

  * Around 60% of the nightmare sequence in Level 17 was redone as the original had too much of a Puella Magi Madoka Magica feel. The only thing that was kept was the mom and dad.



 

  * Originally Chara wasn’t going to be included in the story. They wormed their way in though.



 

  * Mettaton was another character who wasn’t going to make an appearance, but I figured he’s got to start somewhere before he’s a celebrity and included him.



 

  * Future Sans was a giant question mark on if he was going to be included when I was writing the end of the story. Originally he was going to pass by Sans when he left the Hotel, warning him to forget his plan and go home, then he was thought of for the Judgment Hall as well as Gaster or another OC who would have been a female skeleton with blue ninja clothes and a scythe. When I figured out a loop-hole to Future Sans’ existence, he was placed in the Judgment Hall for the greatest effect.



 

  * After Papyrus and Sans escaped Grillbys, they were going to spend a night in the abandoned shack while hiding from the Royal Guard. A small scene was thought up of the two coming close and sleeping together for warmth, but the idea was scrapped since, as Sans’ put it, ‘They’d look for them there.’



 

  * I had to be careful on how much I compassion I showed the brothers having for one another, as I didn’t want it to cross over into incest territory. This involved cutting a lot of scenes that were planned of the two trying to understand one another, or the fact that Papyrus is only one who says I love you in the present story.



 

  * When designing Volare and Charlotte, the two had a good chance of ending up as gay spider men. They were changed back to girls though as I wanted to play more on sister relationships.



 

  * Originally Papyrus’ line in Level 11 when talking about the letter was, “Like Chinese?” I changed it to Morse code as I didn’t want to offend any viewers accidentally.



 

  * Before Sans reveals to Papyrus his plans of staying, Papyrus was originally going to find out about it via Sans’ items. The first script was of him stumbling upon the photo album and questioning Sans about it, while the other script was for him to flip through Sans’ journal and see how Sans was slowly descending into madness.



 

  * I had a hard time trying to figure out how I was going to get Papyrus out of Snowdin before coming up with the pager idea. A few ideas that my friends, who were not familiar with Undertale, tossed around for fun was Papyrus going to the bathroom only to find blood stained on the mirror saying “run *female dog* run”, a celebrity guest-star coming up to Papyrus and telling him to get out, or, my favorite, Gaster taking Papyrus out for a drink, then knocking him out when he’s drunk, put him in his truck, drive him as far away as he could from Snowdin, and then dump his body somewhere.



 

  * The Royal Monster Lullaby was thought of when I was randomly singing in the shower. I basically had to keep singing it for the rest of my shower and all the way back to my room since I knew I would forget it if I didn’t.



 

  * I had hoped of doing more past scenes to give more depth to Raviath and Keshika, but never really got the time. Nevertheless, Raviath does care for Papyrus, but he’s blinded by Sans’ potential, which was something I wanted to show.



 

  * If I were to put a time on how long Sans’ and Papyrus’ journey was, I would say close to 4-5 days.



 

  * Papyrus was going to get a scene where he freaked out about his car, but I never found a good time to put it in. Rest in Peace, Papyrus’ car.



 

  * Happstablook was going to make an appearance before I decided on Mettaton instead. However I decided to take it out of the story since as it would contradict his diary entries.



 

  * When scripting Fading Light, I already knew I wanted Papyrus to be the older brother. This actually mirrors my relationship with my younger brother, who is more down to earth than me, who is always jumping around and being silly. Whenever we’re in public people assume he’s the older one. I basically thought it would be a neat idea to have the younger brother taking care of the older one.



 

  * Grillby was the only child to not have something striped on him to show that he was a kid.



 

  * Flowey was a last minute add-in to Level 16. I sort of wish now I had Sans turn around every few chapters to show that Flowey was indeed stalking them.



 

  * There was six different ways that Fading Light could have ended. The options were Sans waking up in Gaster’s lab with his memories, where Gaster tells him what’s happened, finds Papyrus waiting outside for him, who forgot everything and then go to Snowdin where their house is; the first option but with Sans not remembering anything; Sans waking up as a child but remembering everything and leaving with Pap; Sans waking up but not remembering anything and leaving with Pap; Sans waking up remembering everything as Gaster takes care of him and his brother, and Sans waking up with no memories as Gaster takes care of him and his brother.



 

  * For those wondering who the cat-announcer was in Level 13, that was Burger Pant’s Mom.



 

  * In case you were wondering why Toriel was holding a knife in Level 2, she was bringing down the rest of her pie to give the boys another slice as a sign of peace.



 

  * Fading Light is the longest story I’ve ever written, maxing out at 203 pages.



 

  * Despite the entirety of Fading Light, I still stand by my word that I don’t know how to write Skeleton Papyrus and Sans.



 

  * Why is Papyrus and Sans Indian? I wanted to try out another ethnicity as I usually do white characters, and when I was writing the story it wasn’t adopted yet by the fandom that Papyrus and Sans are African American.



 

  * The most ironic thing about this whole story is that I, myself, could not envision Papyrus and Sans as humans for at least 3/4ths of it. I finally got the hang of it during the Sagiv battle.



 

  * There were a lot more scenes I had planned of Sans getting to know the ‘common enemy’, but I had to scrap them for time and how long the story was becoming.



 

  * Shyren’s sister was originally going to be the one to ask Papyrus and Sans to move from the rock, but it was changed to Napstablook since I was still unsure with how I wanted the timeline to flow. Shyren hasn’t fallen yet, for those of you wondering.



 

  * The ages of Sans and Papyrus can be deduced by the hints throughout their past, but for those of you who didn’t catch it Sans is 16, while Papyrus is 18.



 

  * The reason Sans doesn’t have his license was because he wanted to get a moped license.



 

  * In case you were really curious, no, no one showed up for Papyrus’ big party.



 

  * There was a scene originally planned in the last battle where Sans completely snaps and tries to take his life. Defeated and unable to kill Asgore, Sans starts screaming about how he only needs to get Papyrus out, and if he needs a monster soul to escape well, he’s basically a monster right? So his soul would do. But it’s actually Chara that holds him back from killing himself long enough for Papyrus to wake up and come to save his brother. While I so desperately wanted this scene in the story I couldn’t find room and had to leave it out.



 

  * Another scene that was thought of was of Sans making his way over to where the souls are kept, but was taken out as the scene wasn’t needed and would have made the chapter too long.




	20. Fan Film in the works!

Hello, my fellow Undertale fans!

This is just a quick announcement over the fact that Fading Light is underway to getting a fan film!! 

Inkmango, or as they are known as FadingLightFilm on deviantart, has asked me permission to make a fan film off of my first Undertale story to which I happily gave them permission. So far they have half of the script done and have started to post a few quick sketches, so I highly, highly implore you all to go over to deviantart and give them support! I know they are considering looking for people to do voices, probably later in the future, so anyone who has a talent with voicing animated characters please go check them out!

I’m very excited to see where this will go, and I know how influential a little support can be, so please check out their page, watch them if you’re a deviantart person too, and let them know how excited you are for this! Because I sure as heck am!!


End file.
